《Ten Tailed: A Unique Creature》 Prologue: The Forest Prologue: The Forest In the far west of the main human continent of Usborne there exists a strange forest that spans 30 kilometres from bottom too top, this forest has no name to the humans as they try their best to avoid it apart from a few brave travelling merchants trying to get to the human civilisation and fairly powerful Ki practitioners from strong clans or popular schools but they only go in as far as 6 kilometres due to its inhabitants. In this forest exists all sorts of mythical creatures, monsters or just plain abominations, the only reason people dare to venture into this forest is the thought of the expensive materials and treasure from the monster inhabitants or to test their newly found strength, but 3/5 of these people generally do not return without major injuries or survive at all. Although this forest does not have an official name it is generally regarded as the ¡®Demon Land¡¯ by most of the continent, while the monsters are named ¡®Demons¡¯. The ¡®Demons¡¯ here are what most humans make their fortune off of as the monsters have three uses to humans these consist of: their materials these are used for weapons, armour, medicine and magical items. They also have solid Ki cores which can be harvested and swallowed to increase Ki cultivation speed for humans as there cores are known as the soul and is not solid so the Ki core would dissolve into what is known as the soul. And due to the human-like intelligence the ¡®Demons¡¯ have they are very useful for humans to have as pets or mounts to both protect them and for travelling, but due to the arrogance they have they usually would die than submitting to humans so the humans use a magical item known as the ¡®Demon Collar¡¯ which controls the Demon so they have to obey the humans commands which to them is worse than death. You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story. The ¡®Demon Land¡¯ is separated into the 1st circle this is where the weakest creatures reside and only spans 3 kilometres into the forest this part usually only contains monsters with little to no intelligence but there is many in number which makes it dangerous to a single or small group of humans, then there is the 2nd circle which spans 15 kilometres and makes up most of the forest this circle contains many strong ¡®Demons¡¯ with most of them having human intelligence but cannot speak as they are too low in Ki cultivation, then there is the centre circle which no human has gone into due to the terrifying ¡®Demons¡¯ here this is where strong ¡®Demons¡¯ battle for territory and the title of ¡®Forest Leader¡¯. The ¡®Demons¡¯ while they are strong and have above human intelligence and the ability to speak only few have the revered inherited memories of techniques and training methods and their divine abilities which vary from species to species, the ¡®Demons¡¯ which posses these are generally worshiped by other ¡®Demons¡¯ and are called divine species by both ¡®Demons¡¯ and humans. Surrounding the forest are many outposts which belong to all of the human cities to protect the humans from ¡®Demons¡¯ from the 1st circle as some venture out of the forest and attack nearby villages, so a joint alliance from the human cities place many soldier to protect the close villages, and have jointly made a massive training city for future Ki practitioners for the safety of humanity. Our journey starts at the edge between the 2nd and centre circle where a new unique ¡®Demon¡¯ has been born into a family of the divine species known as the Demon Fox. Chapter 1: Twin Tailed Chapter 1: Twin Tailed As the wind picked up the leaves and other various objects, two blurs could be seen weaving in and out the trees only one of these figures was quickly catching up to the other. Only when they stopped at a cliff face which most people wouldn¡¯t see the bottom of the figures were revealed showing a terrified black ox like creature with two 1 meter tusks growing out of its mouth and with a behemoth size of 4 meters tall and 5 meters long. But the strange thing was what was chasing the ox as it stepped out of the shade revealing a 1 meter long and half a meter tall fox with black hair with some streak of red going through it, this would scream demonic to any passer-by but the strange thing was not its color but its tail, in fact two tails both black with a golden tip to them emanating power. ¡°Brat why do you continue to chase me¡­ I don¡¯t remember angering you or your family¡± The ox creature shouted so other creatures in the forest could hear but the voice contained a trace of fear that could be easily distinguished. ¡°Eeh¡­ why? You tress passed into my territory and you still don¡¯t know what you have done?¡± As the fox tilted its head inquisitively locking onto the ox. ¡°Humph¡­ how can you have a territory at your age¡± The ox snorted belittling the fox before him. ¡°Oh¡± As if a dam had burst a faint blood lust emitted from the fox¡¯s body, while the two tails curled and pointed at the ox as the golden tips faintly glowed. Sensing the blood lust the ox trembled slightly whispering to himself ¡®How does a brat like this scare me so much?¡¯ as he as well bent his body down building power in his knees to flee if needed. Seeing the ox¡¯s change in attitude the fox grinned to himself while saying ¡°A mere D rank cow wants to say that to me¡­ die¡± fixed on the ox the small fox emitted a noble like presence while he moved his Ki into the two tails making them as hard as steel and started extending an extra meter. Although startled seeing the two tails extend the ox kept his calm and started to rush at top speed toward the fox believing he couldn¡¯t escape due to the fox¡¯s speed earlier. As the ox rushed towards the fox getting 10 meters between the two, the fox narrowed his eyes staring menacingly at the ox while putting both tails in front of him to block the tusks of the ox. Seeing the tails move, the ox moved his Ki from his core into both tusks making there power at least double, confident in himself breaking the fox¡¯s defense the ox inwardly smiled thinking ¡®Just an arrogant brat, what was I scared about¡¯ As the two collided a loud bang sounded leaving dust around the two, as the dust scattered a shocking scene could be seen as the ox had been driven 30 cm into the ground while stopping completely. Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. Witnessing a shocked expression on the ox¡¯s face the fox smiled sinisterly as he took one of the tails away while the ox was trying to get away but was held in place by the other tail wrapping itself around one of the tusks of the ox. The second tail raised about 1 meter into the air before coming back down at high speed making a shrieking sound as the air seemingly spit in two, crashed into the ox¡¯s thick neck like a hot knife through butter. When he took both tails away and took the Ki away from them they morphed back into their normal sizes and positions. Looking at the scene before him the fox showed a smile that would split his face into two as he says to himself with certain liveliness ¡°Haha!!¡­ I¡¯ve finally learnt it¡­ it was so hard trying to split my Ki into tow places it took a month before I could do it¡± if any animal heard him say that they would cough blood as it usually took a normal ¡®Demon¡¯ around 5 years to split there Ki without any problems. This ability would have also shocked a lot of the other lesser ¡®Demons¡¯ around as it was one of the divine abilities that the nine tailed fox inherited from their memories and would evolve as the ¡®Demon¡¯ ranked up in Ki training, and would have come to pass when the nine tailed fox reached the B rank in Ki training, at around two years old this would make most ¡®Demons¡¯ green with envy. When the fox was turning away he noticed the sky getting darker he quickly looted the ox for its Ki core and ran at to speed north towards the center circle of the forest. While sprinting top speed he thought to himself ¡®Ha I¡¯m gonna show my prize to little brother, to show him how great I am¡¯ the foxes signature sinister smile showed again as he thought about praise and held his head up high again disappearing into the darkness. As one hour passed the night had already crept up on the forest and was now buzzing with al sorts of creatures and human shapes as ¡®Demons¡¯ loved to show off their strength by fighting or just showing off techniques like morphing into a human. Soon after the fox stopped running and stared at the massive mountain in front of him with a tall 10 meter entrance with two ¡®Demons¡¯ morphed into human figures guarding it showing off their might, as they saw the black fox approaching them they stared at the shape but as soon as they did a smile showed on their face as they said to the fox while bowing ¡°1st Prince how was today¡¯s hunt¡± Chapter 2: Lord of the Forest Chapter 2: Lord of the Forest ¡°Humph¡­ all of them were weaklings, those D rank monsters can¡¯t even take one hit of mine even though I¡¯ve limited myself to only using a C rank¡¯s power¡± The fox responded to the two guards in an arrogant manner. ¡°Haha!!... The prince really is strong¡± One of the guards replied with an impressed expression on his face, but still keeping the fierce aura about him to scare off any other monsters trying to sneak in to the mountain. ¡°Any way prince, your father told us to tell you to see him as soon as you got back it seems serious¡± The other guard mentioned to the fox. As soon as he heard this the fox broke down his arrogant nature and a cold sweat dripped down his back as he remembered the last time his father wanted him for something serious, as he thought back he remembered the hell like training he endured when he reached the age of one to get him ready for fighting other monsters and the lessons as every type of ¡®Demon¡¯ got drilled into his head when he was forced to remember them all. When the guards saw that the prince was thinking about something to do with his father they showed an apologetic expression and also thinking back to when they first saw his father fight for the position of ¡®Forest Leader¡¯ a chill crept up their spine when they looked back at that scene as it shocked them back into reality only to see the space where the fox stood empty and a trail of fox prints leading into the mountain, and immediately acted as if nothing ever happened. The instant he snapped out of his flashback he quickly dropped all of his collected Ki cores from his D rank prey and suddenly grew to 4 meters in height and 5 meters long, this was the fox¡¯s maximum height as nine tailed foxes were very small compared to most other monsters in the forest and sprinted into the mountain not even saying goodbye to the two guards. Entering into the mountain the previous plain rocks on the outside turned into a smooth quartz that would only belong to the richest kingdom and would make people believe they have entered a new dimension. While the fox kept running at maximum speed up to the palace he passed at least 200 guards and all sorts of servants from the 2nd circle though all of them were human in figure so they took up less space. The higher the fox ran the more people there were until he got to a 10 meter wide corridor with a height of 20 meters, gulping once the fox ran to the two plain black doors and opened them entering into the palace. When the fox stepped he immediately looked up to the throne to see a seemingly old and fragile man with grayish hair growing past his shoulders and a cleanly shaven beard, the only thing to tell this old man apart from a normal human was his gold irises and 2 inch canines on both the top and bottom rows of teeth. As he got further into the room he lowered his head as a form of respect to his father who was without a doubt the strongest in the forest and most of the ¡®Demons¡¯ idol. 5 meters before the heightened podium where the throne rested the fox laid down with his head still looking down not saying a word as it was known that his father had a very violent temper due to being a golden scaled divine python and at the X rank he could easily kill who he wanted to even if it was his own son. This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there. As the old man looked down he saw the fox with his head down he immediately grinned and said with a hint of laughter in his voice ¡°Elias you really don¡¯t have to so formal to your own family¡± (the fox¡¯s name is Elias and will call him this from now on). Hearing this Elias immediately looked up to see his uncle smiling at him while thinking to himself ¡®thank the ancestors I haven¡¯t done anything to anger father¡­ this time¡¯ coming out of his thoughts he asked very politely to his uncle ¡°Father I heard you wanted to see me¡± ¡°Ah yes I did¡­ now tell me Elias what is your current Ki rank at the moment¡± The old man asked with a tone most people would find amusing. Without any pauses Elias reported¡± My rank at the moment is at the early B rank as I ranked up 2 weeks ago, and I have begun to master some techniques in my inherited memories¡± A rare impressed look was shown on the old man¡¯s face as he said to himself ¡®B rank and learning techniques already¡­ Hmm I guess that time is growing closer¡¯ As a smile brewed on his face he said ¡°Good you¡¯ve impressed me again and made it to the B rank I will give you a few B rank cores for your further progression¡­ but remember when you reach the A rank immediately report back to me as you will be then eligible to turn into your human form and I will give you a mission which holds extreme importance¡± ¡°Yes father I wont disappoint you¡± with a respectful tone Elias answered and saw his father wave his hand and two purple Ki cores appeared in his hand indicating that they were B rank. When Elias saw this scene he spied enviously at his father¡¯s inter-dimensional ring on his right hand but without saying anything he immediately went to take the cores and retreated out of the palace and immediately descended back down to his favorite size of 2 meters long and half a meter tall to his own cave to quickly consume his new cores but he knew they would only take him to the middle of the B rank and no more due to the approaching bottleneck in his training. As Elias walked back down the corridor he saw a 10 meter long and half a meter wide golden snake sliding its way towards the palace. Elias¡¯s once happy face quickly darkened seeing the snake but still walked towards it saying respectively ¡°Big brother what are you doing here?¡± Turning towards Elias the snake snorted saying ¡°Oh what have we here¡­ it¡¯s the fox humph as much as I want to belittle you right now I need to go meet father¡± sliding away towards the palace the snake chuckled to itself. Still frowning Elias quickly left towards his cave in the left wing of the top floor of the mountain to continue training so he could gain more tails and reach his human form he always fantasized about. Chapter 3: Colored Lights? Chapter 3: Colored Lights? Taking his mind off of the recent behaviour of his brother by thinking about his future abilities Elias was in good spirits, and it wasn''t long until he reached the entrance to his newly developed cave which was his pride and joy. Raising his head proudly about the thought of his cave Elias passed the two guards of his cave, but their expressions were a lot different than the guards at the mountain¡¯s front gate as their gazes held ridicule and disdain at Elias. This gaze was very common to Elias due to the forests deep history that made a lot of people hold contempt over him as in the past the ¡®Forest Lord¡¯ position used to be held by the family of demon fox¡¯s and were Elias¡¯s ancestors, they held this position due to their power as they were one of the top divine species of ¡®Demons¡¯ but due to the power they held they tyrannized the whole of the forest and enforced many rules that if ignored the monster and their family would be killed off, this was a very dark period in the forests vast history and most people had a very deep hatred on demonic fox¡¯s. But coupled with the fact that Elias was an adopted son of the current ¡®Forest Lord¡¯ people were very discriminatory to him and was not stopped either as his brother or the ¡®real prince¡¯ as people called him made sure no penalties came about to the people who bullied him. Ignoring the gazes placed on him, Elias proudly entered his cave and was greeted with a dazzling circled room 20 meters in diameter with what humans would find to be a small city''s worth of jewels embedded onto the wall and would make most people send envious glances at him as he passed through the mountain. As he approached one of the several doors placed around the room, he surged his Ki forth to enter in a diamond shaped black jewel, when his Ki reached the jewel it suddenly glowed for a few seconds until dimming down again while the door previously locked opened for Elias to enter into, this jewel was one of the many magical items that the humans made and could be locked when an owner enters his own Ki into and until the owner died no one could claim the item with their own Ki, but could still be destroyed to prevent the owner tracking them down. This jewel had the ability of checking and verifying the Ki with the owners Ki and would then send a signal to another object and power them; in this case the latter object was the door. When entering the room Elias could not help but sigh in awe at the sight even though he had been here many times before, as in the room their held a very faint blood smell but Elias did not know where this came from as he knew for a fact that he had never killed anyone in here, but it wasn''t the smell of blood which made Elias impressed it was the massive seemingly artificial storm cloud that hovered 15 meters in the air continuously shooting small lightning bolts that just touched the ground before dissipating to nothingness. While walking towards the centre of the room Elias pondered how the cloud was formed, what method his father used to get it here and what was its purpose, but soon Elias removed the questions from his mind and continued to go towards the centre of the room to devour his new cores and have a long deserved rest. Reaching the centre Elias lay down and moved his tail towards him so he could get the cores, but when Elias looked at the purple core closely and couldn''t help but see a red tint to the core, but soon Elias ignored this and with one gulp swallowed the entire core as it wasn''t a problem with his maximum size. When the core reached his stomach and started to dissolve Elias quickly focused on this area showing off his experience when absorbing Ki cores, when the core broke down fully he straight away saw the familiar silver lights and willed them towards his own Ki core in the centre of his abdomen, as the silver lights got absorbed into his core Elias saw an unfamiliar sight as he watched red lights which gave off a slight brutal aura about them move away from his core and then enter into his bones, skin, blood and even cells. When he saw this Elias was shocked as he couldn''t do anything to move them away but he didn¡¯t feel anything wrong with him so he blamed it on the core he ate and didn''t think about it anymore than he thought he should. Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author. Again moving his tail to pass him the other core he was given as he viewed it there seemed to be a golden tint to this one and Elias hesitated for a few minutes before finally eating and repeating the process he did with the other core, but this time when the silver lights were entering his core he noticed again other coloured lights were coming off of the silver trail but this time they were golden in colour and gave a slight shock to his body when they merged in the same places as the red lights merged. ¡®Hmm¡­ that¡¯s never happened before¡­ maybe I should ask father when I reach the A rank¡¯ As Elias never liked to interrupt his father''s business unless it was it was very important, but because he didn''t sense anything wrong with his body he decided to bring it up when his father asked him to come back when he reached the A rank. When he thought about the A rank he begun to think about what his human form would be like and how he would show off to everyone, and with a smile Elias soon found himself in the world of dreams. . ¡­ ¡­. ¡­.. ¡­¡­. Slowly opening his eyes Elias felt a sharp pain go through his entire body as though thousands of needles were piercing into his skin and bones, looking around making sure no one came to kill him as that had happened a lot of times before he became a B rank, seeing no one he calmed down slightly but the pain still kept him on edge as it would for anyone not knowing what was going on. 10 minutes dragged themselves by until the pain in Elias¡¯s body stopped, as he dragged himself up to get something to drink from a nearby pond in the room he saw in the reflection the once faint red markings on his body had now became a lot clearer and even glowed slightly giving off the same brutal aura the red lights did when he absorbed them, but as he continued to inspect his new markings he saw at the back of his body shocking him nearly into fainting¡­ a new tail which resulted in him having three tails in total now, but checking his body he didn¡¯t know how he gained a new tail as he knew he gained two new tails every Ki rank and gaining three more when he reached the X rank to compensate for the power given at the X rank, but when he inspected his Ki core there wasn''t much change in power and was stuck on the peak of the B rank now because of those cores. Thinking about what the red and golden lights were he again saw at the end of his tails the golden tips hummed in a low tune and every once in a while they would all spark slightly. ¡®Ah¡­ what is going on¡­ should I go see father or not¡¯ Thinking for a few minutes Elias decided to get to the A rank first and then ask his father about the changes as that¡¯s what he was told to do, so the next day he decided to test out his new tail and strength of being the peak of the B rank against other B rank monsters to quickly get to the A rank to find the answers he needed. Chapter 4: Rank Up part 1 Chapter 4: Rank Up part 1 Exiting the mountain, Elias¡¯s first objective before anything else was to test his new strength as gaining a new tail meant a boost in power to any demon fox. Deciding where to go Elias grew to his maximum size and ran to an opening 1 kilometre away from the mountain, reaching the opening there were a few 5 meter high boulders with a blackish ore veins going through them most humans would recognise this as black iron and was a considerably good metal for normal weapons with several scratch marks showing much power was used to make these and were ranging from 2 cm deep to 6, all of these markings were once made by Elias at different points in his training. Though the rocks were good at testing his strength, what Elias liked the most about this place was the scenery, as at the end of the opening there was a fairly high drop point from where people could see the sun setting and rising, also due to the trees separating in this area you could also see the stars in all their glory at night time. Remembering all of the times he came to practise here and seeing himself now, Elias couldn''t help but put on his usual proud expression and murmured to himself ¡®I''ll definitely make all those guards have a shock when they see my human form hehe¡¯ laughing to himself as he imagined all of the guards looks when he has his human form made him both more determined and made him drool over what he would look like. Stepping up to a new rock with no markings in at all, Elias made a big swing with his front paw showing his knife like claws and powering his paw with his Ki he made an arc like motion and in a blink of an eye his paw came down and engraved the rock with 5 7cm deep markings, which also managed to go through the lack iron veins with no trouble at all. Looking at the scene Elias thought to himself ¡®Hmm¡­ strange I thought my power now would at least go through the entire rock with ease¡­ but how com I hardly made any progress from before I ate them two cores?¡¯ Soon Elias thought the coloured essence didn¡¯t affect his strength but something else, showing a puzzled face which contradicted the noble aura he gave off he gave up on thinking about the topic. Testing his strength, Ki, speed and his inherited skill Fox Wrath (his tail skill he used in chapter 1) multiple times gave Elias a good grasp of his new power and limitations, which made him decide to only go after C and B rank monsters as they would both test his skill and their cores would contain considerably more power than the D rank beasts he was harvesting from before. Decreasing his body to half meter tall and 1 meter long made him look not as much of a threat that his taller size would do, but it would also give him more manoeuvrability in smaller places and gave him the ability to hide in the trees to ambush his prey. Jumping into the trees Elias headed 10 kilometres to the south as this place held both C and B rank monsters but mainly C rank as it was the border between the 2nd and centre circle, at this point it was around midday so Elias quickly found a large branch to sleep on as most monsters were nocturnal animals so he decided that midnight was a good time to wake up. While dreaming about his human form, as he did most nights ever since he entered the B rank of his Ki cultivation, a low growl that seemed to shake the ground slightly woke Elias up from his dream. Angered at being woken up so suddenly Elias saw a large lion shaped animal only that there were black spikes coming out of his back was attacking a 7 meter long python with purple scales and two heads facing off in a battle. As Elias was very adept in recognising the different species of monsters in the forest and deduced that the lion figure was a C ranked spiked lion which was generally at the peak of the C rank and usually wouldn''t go any higher as it was a fairly common species. If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it. However the python creature drew Elias¡¯s interest as he realised it was a B rank dual headed python this was not a creature that could approach his father in strength but was fairly powerful around this area, but the fight did not draw Elias¡¯s attention as being a prince he had seen many powerful fights in his past but the item they were fighting over as Elias was shocked to see that there was a sword embedded into a rock several meters behind the lion. This piqued Elias¡¯s interest as the material that the sword was made from did not look ordinary at all as the blade was mainly golden with complicated black runes etched into it was slightly curved as it got further to the top, coupled with a black hilt and no hand guard this made the sword look very mysterious and was not like most of the swords he saw the guards use at the mountain, so Elias deduced that it was quite the treasure. Seeing the two monsters about to face off Elias made use of his mischievous nature as a fox to wait until one of the creatures died before acting, this would make his job easier as he could collect two cores but would also let him see the winner of the fights face when he approached the sword, with that thought he chuckled to himself and with his two red irises in the night made him seem very ominous. ¡°Snake why do you interfere with my business¡­ I''m only a mere C rank compared to you why would you bother with me¡± The lion spoke with clear uneasiness to his voice, hoping the snake would go his separate ways quickly, but was let down as a cold and callous voice sounded saying ¡°Ha!... still acting ignorant, but since I''m here I might as well tell you that I''m here for that sword behind you as I found it very unusual¡±. Met with this response the lion immediately tensed up ready for battle but his face saying he had little hope of winning made him seem very pitiable to people who saw the scene. As the lion tensed up the snake suddenly shot from its position at a speed that did not match its size, when it closed in the lion did not lie still as it raised one of its paws in defence and one making a wide arc to attack and grab the snake, seeing this the snake made a small smile and narrowed its eyes into small slits it coiled itself in midair and flung its tail in a clockwise arc to hit the lions right side. Quickly readjusting his defence the lion continued to make his claw attack while taking on the snakes attack, which would at least cost him his arm, as the two collided it was clear to see who came out on top as the snake''s strike was not to be underestimated even by A rank monsters as it smashed straight through the lions right arm turning it into pulp and even slightly damaged the lions chest by leaving a deep cut at least 8 cm long. But the lions attack was also shown to be pretty strong even for his rank as he managed to take off a few scales as blood poured down its body. The snake enraged at its damage because if people knew he was hurt this badly by a C rank monster he would lose a lot of respect around this area, let out a fierce hiss and moved both of its heads in opposite arcs to bite down into the lion letting its poison take care of the lion confident in at least one hitting due to the lion missing an arm. True to his thoughts the lion dodged one of the heads but was immediately hit on his right side by the other head and injected its poison leaving the lion to collapse unwillingly, letting the lion have time to accept its fate the snake slithered away to the sword still standing strong inside the rock. ¡®Humph all it came down to was their training¡­ no actual skill was used, and here I thought I would get a good fight¡¯ viewing in disgust Elias jumped down from his tree and approached the lion thinking to himself ¡®Oh well at least its more cores for me¡­ I wonder what expression the snake will make¡¯ grinning evilly he finally made his move. Chapter 5: Rank Up part 2 Bigger chapter this time because I felt bored¡­. So enjoy I hope ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 5: Rank Up part 2 As the snake went up to grab the sword, he glanced back at the dying lion that was convulsing on the floor due to the poison, just as he was about to look towards the sword. He spotted a pair of red eyes which contrasted perfectly with the night-time, this made the snake unconsciously shiver, and sensing this as a threat, the snake immediately jolted towards the eyes to catch the owner off guard. But just as he reached 10 meters before the eyes, a tail came out of nowhere piercing into the dying lion¡¯s abdomen, and accurately pulling out the core. This made the snake stop in its tracks as he knew if he approached recklessly, it would cost him his life. However thinking he could win in the first place, as when the figure came out of the shadows a look of horror covered his face, this is because what approached him was a creature that looked like it came from hell itself, the figure he saw was a 4 meters tall and 5 meters long demon fox, this alone gave him a fright as the fox carried itself and his tails with pride, but what terrorised him so much was the infernal red markings that gave off a blood like smell, and the golden tips of the tails that suddenly gave off tiny sparks. ¡°Snake that¡¯s a nice look you''ve got¡­ kukuku¡± a voice that did not belong to the creature in front of him, as it seemed to be filled with care but the snake now snapped out of its horror knew otherwise. ¡°Ha¡­ha that¡¯s not true sir¡­ but if I dare to be so outgoing, may I ask why someone like yourself is around this part¡± The snake squeezed trying not to anger the person in front of him, as he knew if he did it would not end well for him. ¡°Oh if you''re asking¡­ I heard your fight, and it woke me up¡­ as I was pretty angry I would just kill you both instantly¡­ but then I spotted that sword over there and I found it to my fancy¡­ so, would you be willing to let me have it in exchange for your life¡± Elias didn''t really care about the answer, as he would kill the snake any way, but this way it made it more amusing to him. Hearing the obvious threat, the snake knew what was good for him, as he valued his life more than the sword he just happened to pass so unwillingly he said ¡°Fine I know what¡¯s good for me, and arguing with you would not result well¡­ so you can take it, just let me keep my life¡±. Smiling like a mad man, Elias went up to the swords position, and used his middle tail to wrap around the hilt and pulled it out with more strength than he thought it would take. As the snake let out a sigh of relief he left quite slowly, due to the pressure Elias gave him, but as he got moved away 5 more meters he felt a sharp pain go through his tail, looking stupefied he saw the fox that promised his life stab through the lower part of tail, and before he could say anything the sword that was carried by one of the fox¡¯s tails hurdled towards his face and the next thing he saw was pitch black. ¡®That was a nice expression hehe¡­ but I have to say this sword is pretty sharp, considering I didn''t feel any resistance when cutting through him¡¯ Still thinking about the sword, and grabbing the snakes core with the tail that already held the lion''s core, he did not notice the runes on the sword absorb the blood of both corpses. Thinking about the outcome, Elias smiled to inwardly and ran back towards the north for 5 kilometres, until he stopped near a small cave that he used when he was small. Shrinking back down he entered the cave and started to devour the cores again using the same absorbing process, but at the end it seemed to not help at all as he didn¡¯t progress a single step. ¡®Ah this must be what father said about a bottleneck in training¡¯ thinking back to what his father said to him he figured what was wrong. After a few minutes Elias realised what was wrong ¡®Hmm father said something about absorbing a humans Ki core¡­ huh, but that would mean going to the 1st circle. Damn! I hate that place¡¯ getting over the fact that he had to go to the 1st circle. Elias quickly set off. 2 hours passed when Elias first reached the 1st circle of the forest, and as soon as he did most other creatures did not dare to come near him, as they all recognised his as a powerful demon fox and at the most the highest rank out of the creatures here was a D rank not wanting to commit suicide they let Elias do whatever he pleased even if it meant him invading some of the clans set up territories. Some small fry came to bother him, so he just brushed them off not even bothering to collect their cores. As Elias approached the edge of the forest, he saw far off in the distance some of the human outposts they set up to attack any monsters that came out too far, but everyone knew if a monster that had a B rank or above came out they could easily get past their defences but because most powerful creatures didn''t care about the humans as they were too lazy to even go into the 1st circle. 10 more hours passed by quickly, and was now midday, the most popular time for humans to enter the forest, due to the monsters sleeping patterns but unfortunately for them that didn¡¯t affect Elias. ¡°Oi oi sir Adam may I ask why we are going this far into the forest as it gets very dangerous around this area and weak people like the rest of us may not be able to handle it¡± A panicking voice heard by Elias made his jump from tree to tree until he spotted a group of 10 humans, the one at the front seemed to be the leader with blond hair, emerald green eyes and arrogant haughty look gave him the feel of a stereotypical noble. Two fully built men followed behind him gave the feeling of warriors that would scare most humans just by one look due to their not so clean cut scars and messy hair, after them came 6 general people that Elias did not give a second thought about, but what surprised him slightly was the girl that did not seem any more than 13 years of age, with pale skin scattered with bruises, her previously blond hair caked with mud and the chain on her leg piqued Elias¡¯s dangerous curiosity as he had seen many humans before but none with chains on their legs. Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more. Making his ever evil grin again Elias thought to himself ¡®let¡¯s scare them a bit¡­ I do wonder about that girl though¡¯. ¡°Humph why did I even bother to hire you people if you''re going to be scared by a few E rank monsters and you call yourselves mercenaries¡± with a disdainful voice the noble answered back to the trembling mercenary. ¡°Yeah! That¡¯s right those E rank beasts don''t even make us work hard don''t you worry sir we will definitely get some treasures from here¡± With an enthusiastic voice, one of the stocky males said to everyone giving them some more confidence in their journey. ¡°Good as expected of a D rank monster hunter I will be expecting good things from you¡± With a slightly excited voice the noble replied, but soon had a dark expression when he saw the girl slacking behind and shouting he said ¡°Oi! Bitch hurry up you''ll be left behind and eaten¡±. Hearing this the girl didn''t reply but doubled her speed instead, as if she spoke back she knew she would be hit again. As they travelled for 2 more hours and finding an opening, they started to set their camp up. ¡°Bitch! Hurry up and set the camp up and don''t forget what we bought you for¡± as she heard this she looked up and was met with everyone sending her perverted and malicious glares making her tremble while she set up the campsite. When she was about to set up the last tent, everyone in the opening felt as though the gravity increased twice, looking around to see if anything was out of place they soon picked up their weapons and immediately got on guard. But as soon as they did a loud voice that seemed to be from a child made them all have cold sweat run down their backs as they heard ¡°Oh what do we have here¡­ some despicable humans actually want to invade my territory¡±. As the voice sounded out the humans were met with a 2 meter tall and 3 meter long fox with three tails with one of the holding a very peculiar sword was looking extremely menacing at them. The humans were all cursing inwardly as they knew that a monster that could talk fluently like this one was at least a C rank monster. Even the once cool headed and confident noble now looked in despair as he recognised the monster before them as a nine tailed demon fox and with three tails it was at least at the B rank. Wanting to get out of this situation as soon as possible he spoke clearly to the animal without the slightest hint of intimidation ¡°Lord we did not know this was already occupied, and we would like to ask you if we could leave so we don¡¯t cause you anymore trouble¡±. With amusement in his voice Elias spoke again saying ¡°very well but it will cost you¡­ lets see leave one person here as I''ve always loved the taste of humans¡±. Hearing his demands the noble gave a sigh of relief and shouted to the girl at the back ¡°You can stay here¡­ think of it as a privilege that you''re sacrificing your life for me¡±. Realising her fate the girl let out a few miserable tears and slowly walked forward to Elias. Thinking the deal was done the noble then said ¡°Lord as our deal has concluded we shall take our leave¡± but as he spoke the last word the sword arced round from Elias¡¯s tail a without a noise took the head off of the noble. ¡°Ha! Who said you get to choose who stays human¡± smiling Elias turned to see the shocked girl who had hints of delight and fear on her face, and then saw the mercenaries who some had already pissed themselves in fear and while laughing Elias let out a shout that could shake the seas ¡°SCRAM!!!¡± as he said this all of the mercenaries screamed and ran for their lives, but the slowest ones were killed by Elias and gathered with the body of the noble. Turning towards the girl again who was stuck between opposing emotions he spoke like a child getting a new toy to he saying ¡°What¡¯s your name?¡± Listening to Elias¡¯s tone she was shocked that she was not already dead but then let out a small voice saying to the child like fox ¡°Jessica¡± hearing the name Elias smiled which again shocked the girl but was confused when she heard what Elias said next as he replied ¡°Well, Jessica you should cut your ties with the humans as you interested me and will now be my source of entertainment as well as giving me information about the human cities hehehe¡±. Grabbing Jessica with one his tails and placing her on his back, Elias grew to his maximum size, and grabbed the bodies he gained in his mouth, and while sprinting towards the inner circle thinking to himself ¡®A rank here I come¡­ I wonder if I can shock other humans by using her as bait for them kukuku¡¯ Chapter 6: Rank Up part end Chapter 6: Rank Up part end Getting back to the cave at the edge of the centre circle, Elias immediately put down the three bodies, the two monster cores, the strange sword and Jessica who ran off to one of the corners of the cave, too scared to be in the presence of Elias. Elias didn''t mind this as he was going to absorb the human¡¯s essence to further his training anyway. Because monsters cannot gain Ki by meditating like the humans do they have to either eat other monsters cores or absorb the Ki essence off of human bodies, but most monsters didn''t mind this, as they always enjoyed a good death match. As he dragged the noble¡¯s body out of the pile as he had the most essence in his body, Elias laid next to the body trying to sense the essence. After 30 minutes he found the essence he dragged the essence out and absorbed it sending the silver lights into his core, but again he saw the peculiar lights only they were green this time, and they immediately got ejected by his body and after numerous tries he found he couldn''t absorb them. Annoyed by not knowing what the lights were he came to the decision of asking his newly found walking encyclopaedia. ¡°Oi girl!¡± raising his voice slightly he saw Jessica peak round a rock near by ¡°Y..y..yes?¡± she looked at Elias strangely, as if to say why haven''t you eaten me yet? Elias showed a wry smile as if reading her mind which only led to further frightening her ¡°Have you ever cultivated before?¡± the question shocked Jessica but soon returned with ¡°Y¡­yes¡­ I¡¯am currently at the D rank¡± this excited Elias but soon wondered why she was with that group before but was replied with ¡°I¡­ was with those bastards because¡­ I was attacked by some bandits one day and was soon sold as a slave¡­ shown by this chain on my leg which absorbs your Ki so I can¡¯t attack my owners¡±. Hearing the Jessica¡¯s explanation only gave Elias more questions but soon got to the point and said to Jessica ¡°Do you know what the strange coloured lights are when I absorb or eat others cores¡­ if you help me enough ill break that weird chain for you¡±. Thinking for a moment Jessica smiled and said back ¡°I am not too sure¡­ but I''ve seen in some books saying that to reach the A rank one must somehow combine both the lights and your Ki, apparently this will not only make your Ki stronger than it was. It will also give your Ki an element and by having an element you can then create Ki skills, most people only have one but some other have two or even three! However the more elements you posses the harder it is to combine¡±. Receiving this information grinned wildly and immediately started to first combine the golden lights, but this process was indeed difficult as it took Elias over 1 year to even bring out the lights stored in his bones and skin, over this period of time he occasionally brought food in for Jessica, who had now washed away the dirt and some of the bruises on he had started to fade. After another 2 years Elias got up and started to laugh maniacally as even though it was a hard and long process this only made him more determined and by the third year he had finally fused the golden lights with his Ki. ¡°HAHA! I finally did it not only did I fuse it but I found out that the element was actually lightning haha! I can already imagine the awesome skills I would make with this hehe¡± with a childlike grin Elias couldn''t help but shake with glee as this was his longest training period he has ever done, as all demon fox¡¯s are born at the C rank it was extremely easy to get to the B rank, so he only needed to eat some core of other animals, but this type of training was very taxing on the mind which Elias did not enjoy at all. Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit. ¡°Congratulations Lord Elias on your breakthrough¡± Jessica spoke with a soft voice but one could not help but listen to it. Over the past three years Jessica actually started to get close to Elias as he eventually freed her from the ankle chain, due to her constant supply of information and Elias to satisfy his arrogance made her call him Lord not just Elias. Jessica had now fully recovered from her injuries and now at 16 looked like an up and coming beauty with her long blond hair, pale skin and watery eyes was a sight for any red blooded male. ¡°Hmph of course I broke through after all I am a genius¡± Elias proudly stated ¡°Any way this is no time to rest I now need to fuse the red lights as well¡± with some resignation Elias laid back down to redo the whole process. Another 2 years passed by and Elias finally fused the red lights with his Ki. It took less time due to already knowing how to pull the lights out. His core was now split one golden and one red this showed his success at fusing both elements, but Elias had a gloomy expression on. ¡°Why?... I''ve fused both lightning element and blood element with my Ki but how come I haven¡¯t advanced¡± a childlike complain was very clear within his voice as he spent 5 years in total doing the same thing but nothing has happened yet. ¡°Damn¡­ oh well I''ll just eat that snake core I got that one time and go to sleep¡± eating the core and immediately dropping to the floor, Elias entered into his well earned rest. However, before long in both of Elias¡¯s cores a change was happening, as the silver light entered into both cores, this in turn sparked of a fusion between both cores instantly becoming one core again, only this time the entire core was two times bigger than his past core, and emitted a golden mist on one side and another bloody red mist on the other. If Elias was still awake he would recognise this as the transition between B and A rank as Jessica had told him some time ago. But because Elias was asleep at this point he didn''t get the chance to personally choose his human form. So his body assessed his personality and made a body fitting this. Waking up Elias strolled over to a pool of water inside the cave not noticing his change in height or his new walking method he started to drink out of the pool after he finished, still looming into the pool did he now notice the difference and instead of a happy expression Elias held one of confusion as he started to touch his face that matched with the reflection in the water and as he did he let out a very child like scream saying¡±W..W¡­WHAT THE HELL IS THIS!!!!!!!¡± Chapter 7: Failed Dream Chapter 7: Failed Dream Looking back at Elias, was a very young but handsome nonetheless boy who was at least 10 years of age, with deep black hair that seemed to suck in the light around it, one golden iris and one red most likely to represent his Ki elements, pale skin that seemed like he was ethereal and small but well defined muscles, his whole body seemed to unconsciously emit his noble aura that would draw the attention of most people around him. ¡°Why¡­ why¡­ why¡­ why didn''t I get to choose my image *sniffle* I¡­ I was going to be all badass and show off to everyone but¡­ but now they would just laugh at me¡± with tears streaming down his face at facing his broken dream, so much so that his wailing frightened off most of the beasts around the area. Jessica seeing this sight couldn''t help but smirk while blushing, as seeing the usually haughty Elias now weeping into a pool seemed to stir her into laughter, but was suppressed by the slight blush of watching a very handsome 10 year old cry. 1 hour later Elias was sitting down in a corner, still in his human form sulking like any normal child would do, ¡°Don''t worry Lord, as seeing you have the blood Ki you could probably learn a skill that would let you change your appearance in the future¡± hearing Jessica¡¯s comment Elias couldn''t help but pricking his ears up and showing a slight smile, as being with the girl for around 5 years really improved their once shaky companionship. ¡°Huuuuh¡­ nothing can be done now¡­ oh that reminds me we need to go visit father now¡­ god I can just already hear the laughter at the palace¡± mumbling the last part so no one could hear him he took a surprised Jessica¡¯s hand and took off at a speed that looked very weird if compared to his body. Observing at the young boy and girl in front of them the guards of the mountain couldn''t make heads or tails of the situation. But when Elias turned into his animal form at which point now had 5 tails due to the jump in rank, the guards quickly bowed and let them into the mountain. ¡°As expected of Lord Elias you really do have a good position everywhere you go¡± while inspecting the surroundings of the interior of the mountain Jessica couldn''t help but whisper under her breath. Getting to the palace Elias opened the doors to let both him and Jessica through, arriving 10 meters before the throne before bowing slightly and waiting to gain his father''s attention without interrupting him. Elias¡¯s father looking at the small boy and girl enter immediately knew it was Elias and his laughter couldn''t be contained at the sight of his adopted son ¡°Hahahaha! Don''t tell me Elias did you actually sleep through the forming process hahaha!!¡± with tears of laughter as his voice boomed out not only let Elias know his fault but also slightly ridiculed him at the same time. If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it. Wincing at the comment Elias still had to be respectful and answered ¡°Yes father I did and I wholeheartedly regret it now!¡± seeing Elias¡¯s respectful answer calmed the old man down and said with a slightly amused voice ¡°Well now you know your Ki elements by the way I knew already that¡¯s why I gave you those cores before, I will give you two skills one for each element, then I will give your and inter-spatial ring to store your items on your human body and take a look at that interesting sword you got there, I will then tell you what to do next agreed?¡± Without hesitation Elias replied ¡°Yes father¡±. ¡°Good!... then seeing as you have quite the intriguing set of elements I will give you these two skills¡±. Waving his hand two scrolls appeared in the old man¡¯s hands one golden and one deep red. ¡°These skills being the basic rank 1 skills aren''t something to brag about but should still serve to protect you. The first one is a rank one lightning skill: Spark this skill lets you shoot your lightning Ki into a 1 meter long lightning serpent which will travel for a distance of 30 meters. While the other is a rank one blood skill: Simple Form this lets you use your own of a dead bodies blood to form a simple weapon, of course its best used on a corpse as you will feel slight drowsiness if you use it on yourself understood?¡±. Amazed at the skill descriptions Elias simply nodded his head and his father continued ¡°Right I will give you this inter-spatial ring it''s not of the best quality but will be quite helpful I''ve also put in some clothes and other stuff in for an extra help hehe¡±. Thanking his father Elias took and bound the inter-spatial ring to himself as the owner and sensed a pretty vast area complexly devoid of life and light but weirdly Elias could indirectly see what was inside and what Elias saw shocked him a lot as he saw a lot of exquisite clothes but all at his exact size which caused questions to arise in his mind, but didn¡¯t ask. ¡°Now hand me the sword and ill inspect the runes on the side for you as I''m quite curious to what it does¡± taking the sword from Elias¡¯s hands the old man studied it for quite sometime before Elias saw his father shaking slightly with a few small drops of sweat on his forehead this sight astounded Elias as he couldn''t believe that a sword could do this to his father who is undoubtedly the most powerful existence he has seen so far. ¡°Goodness¡­ Elias not only is your talent good but so is your luck¡­ what you''ve found here is undoubtedly an immortal ranked sword, but at to which rank I do not know¡± slight joyfulness was heard within his father''s voice which piqued Elias¡¯s interest into what the sword could do but before this was asked, a question that shocked both his father and Jessica was asked as Elias said ¡°What¡¯s an immortal?¡± Chapter 8: Mutation Chapter 8: Mutation Both Jessica and the old man looked at Elias with a strange expression, until eventually the old man spoke again with a hopeful voice ¡°Elias you do know there are ranks above X don¡¯t you?¡± Elias looked dumbfounded at his father but with a strange glint in his eyes ¡°Really! What ranks are there?¡± with a wry smile on his face the old man spoke about the ranks above the X rank ¡°When someone surpasses the X rank they are then classed as a beginner immortal, then a mid immortal, upper immortal and then peak immortal each of these ranks have five sub stages but you¡¯ll find them out in time. The reason why there are no immortals in this forest or the Usborne continent is because all beginner immortals cross over the myriad sea to get to the immortal continent¡±. Elias was in a stupor at the thought of the powerful immortals but was suddenly snapped out it as the sword he randomly obtained was actually a very powerful weapon and quickly asked his father ¡°Then what can the sword do¡± smiling at the state of his son the old man replied ¡°The runes on the sword are very intricate, so its difficult to say what some of the effects actually are, but the main ability of the sword is actually to absorb blood and when activated it will emit a baleful aura depending on the total amount of blood absorbed. To know the rest of the effects you would best find out from an actual immortal¡± as his father handed back the sword Elias¡¯s eyes glistened with amazement ¡°So powerful and that¡¯s just the first ability¡­ it actually has three in total amazing hehe¡±. Looking at Elias drowning in euphoria Jessica couldn¡¯t help but have a smile on her face. When Elias¡¯s father looked at her he was shocked that she was actually human and asked Elias ¡°Any way Elias who is this you brought with you¡± breaking Elias out of his dazed state he replied ¡°Ah!... father this is my servant I met 5 years ago when some human came into the forest she¡¯s now a C rank in cultivation¡±. ¡°Oh is that so¡± with a hint of a smile he assessed Jessica who couldn¡¯t help but feel restless under the gaze ¡°Well as long as she doesn¡¯t cause trouble its fine¡­ any way your next task is to understand and practice your new skills, after that you will go to the human continent and join a cultivation sect of your choice, this is to learn new skills and broaden your horizons seeing as you don¡¯t know much. Don''t worry as with your level you would be welcomed by any sect¡±. ¡°Ok father¡± Elias replied, but was visibly excited, as he always wanted to go to the human continent and cause trouble. ¡°You can stay here, I''ll give you a month but with your understanding you can probably complete this within a couple of weeks as they¡¯re only rank one skills¡± watching Elias get to work almost straight away the old man couldn''t help but feel he caused a massive headache for the unlucky sect Elias chose. 2 weeks passed by and Elias could be seen with a blood red sword in one hand and with a 1 meter long lightning serpent in his other hand. Seeing the two made Elias very happy as he had a bit of trouble shaping the serpent. Nodding at the sight of the fully formed serpent the old man looked at Jessica who was meditating in the corner and called out ¡°Jessica! Seeing as you are Elias¡¯s servant I will trouble you with protecting him, but I will doubt you will need to, but just in case I will give you a monster core to absorb¡­ this may cause a mutation depending on the monster, but it will let you pass through to the B rank. Because this core was from a B ranked Golden Basilisk, your mutation will probably be an extra eye on your forehead that will give you some sort of ability that normal humans won¡¯t have, that¡¯s if you manage to survive it anyway¡±. This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report. Surprised at the offer, Jessica thought for a bit until saying ¡°Yes I will try¡± tossing the core over Jessica with the help of Elias cut the core into two and swallowed one half followed by the next. As time passed Jessica finally controlled the power in the core and absorbed it into her soul centred in the head, but a agonising pain that felt like her head was splitting open quickly took over. This led to Jessica rolling on the floor clutching at her forehead screaming, but this didn''t garner any attention from Elias as he was too focused practicing his skills and sword play. After a while the pain stopped and Jessica collapsed on the floor unconscious but there was now a visible slit 3 cm long on her forehead that would sometimes uncontrollably open and close, revealing a golden iris against a black sclera which gave a very sinister look to her. Waking up Jessica was looking at an excited Elias who was looking down at her saying ¡°Jessica what¡¯s your ability tell me tell me¡± chuckling at the childish expression which matched him perfectly Jessica said ¡°Lord apparently when I open the eye I can see the Ki fluctuations and what kind of Ki it is for example I could tell if it¡¯s a high rank or low rank skill and what element was being used. But I can only open the eye for a few minutes as it''s quite draining¡±. ¡°Ooh cool, that¡¯s going to be helpful in the future, and seeing how you¡¯re a B rank now you can enter the sect with me but of course I am still the best hehe¡± Jessica was filled with happiness at her new rank and because the eye was pretty easy to hide it wouldn''t cause much problems she hoped. ¡°Ok you two continue to train for another week, and then I will say my goodbyes¡± both Elias and Jessica nodded at the old man¡¯s proposal and headed off to train again. A week later Elias successfully mastered both of his skills while Jessica had gotten used to opening her new eye, also during this time Elias had managed to create a demi-human form this contained his human body and face but with fox ears, his five tails and sharp claws instead of nails, this made Elias very excited as he looked pretty cool so he said. And on one of the days of training his brother came in and as soon as he saw Elias broke down into laughter, the sight of a 15 meter long and 1 meter thick snake laughing was very amusing to Elias even if he was laughing at him. As soon as he said his goodbyes both Elias and Jessica was seen sprinting through the forest toward the 1st circle and eventually the first human village about 2 kilometres from the edge of the forest and next to the human outpost in which Elias and Jessica would have to pass this excited Elias as if they didn''t let him pass he would just kill them thinking about a 10 year old boy murdering the outpost guards was very amusing to Elias whereas Jessica was dreading this part not because of the guards, but because she knew what Elias¡¯s personality was like. Chapter 9: The Town of Orman Chapter 9: The Town of Orman Dashing through the forest, Elias and Jessica quickly reached the edge of the forest with no troubles. Most of the creatures that spotted them believed they were both A ranked ''Demons'' due to their human appearance, as they reached the edge of the forest, both of them were happy beyond belief, as Elias always wanted to visit some of the humans towns to quench his intrigue. While Jessica was happy as she could once again visit her family, even though she couldn''t stay with them it was enough for her to just meet them again. At the edge of the forest, both Elias and Jessica changed into new clothes that his father had given them, so they wouldn''t stand out too much in some of the noble parts of the continent. Elias changed into a black cloak with on red stripe going down the left side, while a golden stripe was down on the right side. Jessica changed into a black lolita dress , with a white collar even if she was eighteen by this time, she still looked around fourteen due to her quick progression in training, so this kind of dress suited her quite well and also gave an impression of a butler. Exiting the forest was a very exciting moment for Elias as he had been there for all his life even if it wasn''t long it was all he remembered, this was shown by Elias skipping instead of walking but was still very fast, this matched his ten year old body to a tee, and most motherly figure would want to take him home. Advancing quickly they made it to the outpost surrounding the forest, it was called an outpost but at most it was just a stone wall with gates stationed every one kilometre or so, and with a barracks near the gates for the guards which were placed along the walls to allow people in and out, even if the guards were at most C rank people wouldn''t dare offend them as they had the backing of all major Cities in the continent. "Halt" a booming shout was heard which garnered Elias''s and Jessica''s attention. "Hello! we''ve just came back from training in the forest, could we ask you to open the gates" Jessica answered as they both believed that Elias would just cause more trouble. "Ooh, aren''t you two a bit too young to enter the forest" a 2 meter giant came into their view but despite his size he was very handsome due to his brown hair and that approached his shoulders, coupled with smile that would dazzle most females, and power to boot due to his C rank cultivation this would make most females go after him. Elias didn''t like to be looked down on and especially because of his appearance as it reminded him of his failure in choosing his male form. Jessica sensed this and replied kindly back "We may be young, but are talent in cultivation is among the best, but we were lacking in actual combat practice so are master had us enter the forest". The guard didn''t believe this story as most geniuses were kept hidden by the more powerful sects and wouldn''t allow them to enter the forest in risk of losing them, but when he used his Ki to sense the two of them he couldn''t help but shudder as the fourteen year old looking girl was at the B rank, while he couldn''t even sense the ten year old boy (When using Ki to sense people you can identify all people ranked below you while you only identify people one rank above you if you concentrate but cannot sense people above 2 or more ranks, unless they intentionally leak their Ki) this meant that the boy was either an A rank or above this made the guards opinion of them turn a full 180 degrees. "Oh... I am very sorry for doubting you both please come through" watching both of the ''children'' he muttered under his breath "What absolute monsters... I wonder what rank the boy is?" it never entered his mind that the boy was a legendary nine tailed demon fox at the A rank, while the girl was carrying a taboo mutation that is frowned upon in the human continent. Happy when they were allowed to enter into the human continent, with no troubles Elias thought to himself ''it seems power is respected here hehe this should be more fun than I expected''. They kept on running until evening and spotted a town not far off, so they decided to spend the night there, Jessica told Elias before they approached the gate that the town was called Orman and focused on trading the magical items and armour created here this interested Elias but not much due to his immortal sword he carried in his inter-spatial ring. This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. As they approached the gate, there was a woman guard this time when Elias glanced at her he noticed that she was a rank D in Ki cultivation which disappointed him as he thought the guards should be more powerful, but how could Elias know that he was classed as a monster here in terms of talent, as most people reach rank A at sixty, if they get their at all only the most powerful sects could create someone that approached Elias in talent, but not by much. With the same frightened expression the guard at the outpost gave the woman guard let them both in. When they both entered they soon saw lots of people buying and selling items such as swords, armour, talismans and jewellery from shops with such as swords, armour, talismans and jewellery but most of these were at the worst quality and regarded as trash compared to Elias¡¯s ring and sword. But as soon as Elias thought this he came across a shop called the ¡®Immortal¡¯s Hammer¡¯ and while walking passed it he sensed something quite powerful inside, but Elias decided to disregard this until tomorrow. ¡°My lord where do you want to go now?¡± seeing Elias¡¯s expression Jessica couldn''t help but ask. ¡°Hmm I suppose we''ll go to an inn for now and tomorrow we shall explore a bit more¡± this typical childlike response caused Jessica to worry in her head. Approaching a nicely designed inn, they entered and went straight up to the desk which had a nice looking woman seemingly the inn keeper behind it at the moment, to rent a room. Seeing the two children walk up the innkeeper decided to just ignore them. After a few minutes of the inn keeper ignoring them, made Jessica frown slightly, but when she saw Elias who was literally fuming, she couldn''t help but sigh at what a bad day the innkeeper would have now. Extremely angered by the woman behind the desk Elias slightly emitted his Ki which made sparks all around him, and covered the inn in a bloody smell, watching the little boy in front of them do this, most people couldn''t help but shiver at the ferocity of the Ki and even though most people recognised the Ki as an A rank they didn''t say it out loud or rather they couldn''t as Elias¡¯s pressure kept them from moving an inch. ¡°Ne~~ lady I don''t like being ignored like that¡± said Elias with a cute voice which just scared the others even more. ¡°hehehe¡± Jessica couldn''t help but chuckle at the performance Elias made, her reaction made people doubt her sanity but she soon said ¡°My lord you shouldn''t scare people like that hehe¡± still laughing as even the guards who came to check couldn¡¯t even approach Elias or Jessica. ¡°UH! Fine how much for a room for the night¡± removing the pressure everyone took a deep breath but still stared at the boy in front of them who scared them to death as if their life was in his hands. ¡°T.. t.. two gold please my lord¡± experiencing the pressure made the lady innkeeper terrified of the boy in front of her which made her very respectful and even secretly lowered the price. Waving his hand two gold appeared on the desk and Elias snatched the key with the number 12 on from the hand of the inn keeper and walked towards the eastern stairs with Jessica walking behind. This action made everyone present¡¯s eyes almost pop out, as the inter-spatial ring was very rare in the human continent and only the leaders of the major cities had one or very powerful people, this made people ask a lot of questions in their head. Entering into the room that was around 20 square meters in size and had a wardrobe, two beds, bed stand and lights made from magical materials that turned on or off when you touched a gray pad embedded into the bed stand. Elias nodded at the room and said to Jessica ¡°Go to bed soon, we''ll be doing a lot tomorrow as the entry exams for the sects in the capital starts in a months time, and I want to get their as quickly as possible¡±. ¡°Yes my lord¡± Jessica replied, as she started to get ready for bed. Elias quickly got into bed to let sleep drift him away, but not before him thinking about the new skills he could get from the sect he will join in the future. Chapter 10: Jessicas POV Chapter 10: Jessica¡¯s POV I came from a small, declining noble¡¯s house twenty miles from the capital of Tirif in the centre of the continent Usborn, I was regarded as a genius when I started my cultivation as all nobles do at the age of five, as this is when your soul stabilises, and it is safe for you to absorb the Ki essence. But due to this ¡®talent¡¯ most of the people around me started to take advantage of this, they even went as far as getting people to kidnap me, but my family was always there for me and this is what kept me happy most of the time. However, all good things must come to an end, as when I was twelve years old I was travelling with some of the servants from my family, due to my parents couldn''t come with me to the capital to take part in the annual entry exams for the different sects that focused on talents. On the way we got intercepted by bandits and unfortunately they had the upper hand with numbers, even if they weren''t that strong there were still over fifty of them and in the end led to the downfall of the servants that tried to protect me, and led to my capture as a slave. Even if they use the term slave, they don''t treat you that bad as they would get a lesser price for you if you are damaged, so they give us the right amount of food and even beds which I found surprising. But it¡¯s the masters that buy you that you have to be aware of as they have bought you, they can literally do whatever they want you to do without you fighting back due to the slave chain around your ankle that absorbs your Ki every time you try and manipulate it. Unfortunately I was purchased by a relatively bad master, he had a slightly handsome face, pure blond hair and emerald green eyes and with his obvious arrogant attitude you could tell he was a noble of some kind as I had seen a lot of people with the same attitude. When we were brought back to his estate I could tell he was from a very high up noble family as there were a lot of slaves around his house most of them were used as maids but some of the unlucky ones were for the masters sadistic hobbies such as making you feel inferior to him, sexual acts or just plain beatings. Thankfully. Due to my age I wasn''t used as a sex slave even if my master was sadistic he still wasn''t interested in children, but I was still used as a punch bag every other day if I did something wrong, this gave me a lot of bruises and sometimes broken bones depending on the masters mood. This carried on for a year and I had almost snapped because of it, but one day I saw a lot of mercenaries and two massive brutes standing outside talking to the master, as I was looking I could tell they were somewhat novices when it came to Ki manipulation, but as I was studying them the master saw me from the window and beckoned me forth. As I stood before the master he told me they were going into the ¡®Demons Land¡¯ to obtain some of the treasures and ¡®Demon¡¯ materials to sell off to some of the merchants and that I would come with them to set up the camp and other things, the master didn''t finish that sentence but I knew that it would be some sought of night activities for the mercenaries, this made me choke back my tears as I knew I couldn¡¯t stop this from happening no matter what I did. Entering the forest made me feel like I was being watched all over from everywhere and immediately I could sense danger even if there wasn''t anything I could see, the others didn''t notice this and went on very confident ate their abilities. After a few hours of not finding anything made the master very angry and took it out on me by beating me for any little thing I did but the pain was overshadowed by a stare I felt I continuously felt throughout the journey. If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. Making our way into a clearing I started to make camp while the mercenaries continued to stare at me which made me uncomfortable out beyond belief, but as I started to set the last tent up, the rustling of the grass caught everyone¡¯s attention and what came out was a creature beyond everyone¡¯s expectation as they started and trembled at the sight. ¡°Oh what do we have here¡­ some despicable humans actually want to invade my territory¡±. This voice seemed to reverberate with power as we watch a fox as a few heads taller than one of the D rank monster hunters the master hired, with three tails and a very peculiar fur coat appeared. The monster could talk fluently which made us all tremble as we knew that with this much fluency and with the three tails it was a demon fox and at the B rank at the very least, this made most of the weaker mercenaries actually piss themselves in fear, but it had actually made a deal with the master that in return for their safety he could take a person and that person happened to be me. Hearing this I let out a few small tears that the fox seemed to notice, but didn¡¯t pay any mind to. But what shocked me is that when the master and the mercenaries were about to leave the fox actually killed both the master and a few of the mercenaries that didn''t run fast enough, this made me happy beyond belief and I inwardly laughed like a maniac, if people heard this laugh they would undoubtedly question my upbringing. Wondering why the fox hadn''t killed me yet, I was briskly grabbed by one of his tails while he rushed off to the distance. As we soon arrived at a large cave as soon as he put me down, I rushed to the farthest point of the cave not caring about any thing else, and just stared at the strange fox hoping that it would let me live. The fox didn''t really care as it just laid down next to the bodies and seemed to absorb their Ki essence and after a while it again shocked me when it asked me ¡°Do you know what the strange coloured lights are when I absorb or eat others cores¡­ if you help me enough ill break that weird chain for you¡±. At this I was beyond excited and I quickly replied as this was basic knowledge for Ki cultivators. Quickly years passed and true to his promise he took the slave chain off with relative ease, over the years I had quickly found out that he had a very childlike mind and got excited over most things. This personality made me feel more at comfortable around him and I soon started to look after him so much so that he called me his servant but I didn''t really stop this as I knew an argument with him and his personality could drag on for a while, I unconsciously started to call him lord which made him happy. I thought I had top talent entering the C rank at sixteen but when I see the sulking little boy in front of me apart from laughing a bit at the sight I feel very frightened as he entered the A rank at the age of seven while it take most people at least thirty years if they don''t have talent. After being around this unique person for a good five years I find myself quite attached to this little boy and what to experience life with his as I believe he will be quite an important person in the world and I myself really want to see the adventure with him, so I''ll stick around a while, what can I say it will be pretty amusing to watch his personality clash with others from the human continent. Chapter 11: What a Strange Blacksmith Chapter 11: What a Strange Blacksmith *Yawn* as morning appeared, Elias woke up and stretched like a cat to stimulate his muscles, as he turned around he saw Jessica in a meditative state to absorb Ki essence, this made Elias laugh at the inferiority of humans as meditating is the slowest method of cultivating if you have poor talent, but even if you do have talent you still won''t be able to top eating cores for cultivating. Hearing the small snickering, Jessica opened her eyes smiled and greeted Elias ¡°Good morning my lord¡± seeing her smile Elias stopped laughing to himself and put on a new set of robes and proceeded to go downstairs. As the lady behind the desk saw the two come down she couldn''t help but start to sweat as she angered this person of obvious high power, Elias saw her expression and inwardly smiled, but kept a serene expression as the some of the people who were present yesterday started to bow slightly. Walking into the inn¡¯s dining room, both Elias and Jessica sat down and enjoyed a breakfast of gruel and bread, it took a while for Elias to get used to using utensils but they got there in the end with a few laughs from Jessica, to Elias¡¯s surprise he thought the breakfast wasn''t half bad and soon finished and waited for Jessica. Stepping out of the inn, Elias immediately made a beeline for that blacksmiths shop he sensed something from before, he decided if it was a sword he wouldn¡¯t buy it as he already had a perfectly good one in his ring. Seeing the high class blacksmiths Jessica couldn''t help but be excited about something new, while Elias kept his face of indifference. Entering the shop, Elias¡¯s eye quickly spotted the owner behind the counter but what shocked him was the owner''s appearance as he wore baggy tramp like clothing with lots of dirt and rips covering the old shirt, the man himself looked in his mid-thirties with sapphire blue eyes, white hair but with a blue hue to it and with a childish smile he looked over Elias and Jessica as if analysing every part of their bodies which made Jessica squirm a little. ¡°Hello! Young man, young miss welcome the Immortals hammer I am the owner Bernard. Please feel free to look around my wares as you wish¡± with a signature business man''s smile he greeted the two curious customers. Smiling back both Jessica and Elias continued to scan the numerous weapons and other equipment adorning the walls. As Elias continued to look around for the item he slightly sensed earlier, after a few minutes Elias spotted a very weird scroll this made Elias wonder ¡®why is a blacksmith selling a scroll¡¯. Ignoring his own questions he took the scroll up to the counter where Bernard still smiling at him. ¡°Oh, let me take a look at that scroll if I remember correctly it should be a skill scroll of the 4th rank with the attribute of lightning, I picked it up a while ago and must have forgot I still had it hoho¡± Elias looked at the man gobsmacked as he couldn''t believe his luck as it''s not every day you stumble upon a high ranking skill only for your attribute. But Elias still couldn''t shake his underlying thoughts of how coincidental it was. You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author. ¡°Hmm lets see¡­ ah here it is, the skill support type skill, supposedly this skill lets you safely wrap your lightning Ki around your brain, increasing reaction speed and eyesight for a certain amount of time depending on how much you train in the skill, seems pretty handy for when you''re outnumbered but could still be utilised if your doing a one versus one¡± approving of the skill by nodding, Elias handed over twenty gold to the blacksmith and waited for Jessica to finish shopping. A few minutes later Jessica came back with two knives that seemed to excrete poison when you use your Ki on them, handing over the total price of ten gold, they both exited from the shop. When they were out of sight the strange blacksmith let out a loving gave like a grandfather who was proud of his grandson and muttered under his breath ¡°Young master, this servant wishes you well in your endeavours and hope you gain enough strength to meet again with the rest of us¡± as soon as this was said the man¡¯s body was covered in blue flames and immediately disappeared, as if he wasn''t there to begin with. As they walked down the street Elias was gleaming when he looked at the scroll and, wanted to immediately start practicing, but he knew he had to catch the next carriage to the capital. Walking over to the carriage post they immediately hired both a carriage and a driver to take them to the capital, this journey would take around three weeks, leaving the one more week to prepare for the entrance exams for each of the sects, Elias new this would be a very good opportunity to display his full strength (without going into any other forms) and make a name for himself in the world as the exam would host examinees from ages ten to twenty-five. The more Elias thought about this exam, the more his ¡®Demon¡¯ blood began to boil with excitement and anticipation, and with a smile that could cut his face in half Elias began to try and understand the new skill he obtained from that strange blacksmith. And while reading through the entire skill, while Jessica sat in her usual meditative position and began to prepare herself for the upcoming exam with hopes of entering the same sect as Elias. At this point the carriage set off heading into the distance, to the Capital of the human continent: Tirif. Chapter 12: The Uneventful Journey Chapter 12: The Uneventful Journey Journey log day 1: As the two set off to the Capital, they both immediately start preparing, Jessica by just gathering more Ki essence to the best of her ability, while Elias was busy learning his new skill. The carriage driver was immediately shocked to see Elias casually take out a Ki skill as not only one needs a high rank in Ki cultivation, but they are also disastrously expensive and only the utmost experts carried them around as they are usually stored in a sect for their disciples. This made the driver recalculate the young man in front of him and took the journey very carefully afraid of what would happen if someone would anger this sleeping beast. Journey log day 10: Along the way there wasn''t any obstacle such as bandits or some wild beasts attack and for this the driver was thanking his and the bandits that didn''t show up lucky stars. Meanwhile Jessica had started to fuse her element to her Ki, she wasn''t as lucky so she only had the one element to fuse which was fire, and according to her calculations she would successfully fuse the two together in ten years time, which to the human continent would make her one of the top geniuses, but this didn''t make her feel superior in any way, as she had seen Elias effortlessly fuse the elements together in five years, not only that but there were two elements, this would make any practitioner green with envy. As this was happening, Elias¡¯s face showed a childish smile as he had just started to comprehend the skill in his hand and was finally testing it out, but how could Elias know that it would take a normal person at least five years to start to comprehend such a high ranked skill, as in the human continent the skill ranked at most rank six, while in the immortal continent the higher skills were placed there. Journey log day 15: ¡°Halt!! Hehe step out the carriage and hand over the valuables, if you do, I guess me and my friends here might let you go hehe¡± as this was called out numerous expressions were on the faces of the people on the carriage: the driver''s face was full of concern of course not for himself or the passengers but for the bandits, as they didn''t know they had awoken a sleeping beast, Jessica was full of annoyance at the pests that had awoken her from training, but Elias had a strange glint in his eyes, this was because he finally got to have some practice with his new skill. Stepping out of the carriage Elias and Jessica saw twenty men, ten on the road and ten in the tree line, Elias used his Ki sense on the ¡®bugs¡¯ in front of him and what he saw put a frown on his face as fifteen of the men only had a cultivation stage of the E rank, while four in front of him was at the D rank and the apparent leader was at the C rank. Seeing the frown upon Elias¡¯s face the leader of the bandits took that as seeing that they were intimidating them, and didn''t even use his Ki sense on the two kids and carriage driver. ¡°Hehe okay brats sit over there quietly, humph you don''t even compare to us cultivators¡­ oh a girl, well we''ll take you with us when we''re done hehe¡± This made Jessica want to tear their throat out but held back seeing her masters scheming grin on his face. Elias whispered to her ¡°You can take the fifteen E ranks but don''t touch the D and C rank I want to test out my new skill and demi beast form ok¡± Jessica grinned evilly at her masters commands and quickly knocked the carriage driver out so her masters cover wouldn¡¯t be broken, watching this, the bandits were very confused as they just witnessed the seemingly young knock the carriage driver out, but suddenly they were knocked back into reality when the seemingly fragile girl stepped out radiating a slight royal aura (by being near Elias for a long time his aura affected her as well) this made everyone of the bandits sweat profusely. If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. ¡°Humph scum you dare try and threaten my lord, and even show that kind of attitude¡­ none of you will leave here ALIVE!¡± finishing her speech she disappeared from the view of the bandits, as they were constantly searching for her all they could hear was the screams of the fifteen low ranked bandits which seemed to pierce them and made them shudder. ¡°*cough* *cough*¡± hearing the cough the five higher ranked bandits turned to the young boy and the girl which had just appeared back with a few blood stains on her hands. Elias started to walk out towards the bandits and let out his aura that seemed to belong to a tyrant king, feeling this the five men dropped to the floor shaking while the leader of the bandits was cursing his luck every second he was left alive. Elias smiled at this scene but then spoke in his usual arrogant manner ¡°Consider yourselves lucky, you will be my first test subjects kuku¡±. This made the bandits shudder as they saw this young boy in front of them transform as he grew out five fox like tails with golden tips, black fox ears, large dagger like nails and fangs on his top row of teeth. Disappearing from the bandits view but was clearly on another level of speed from the young girl in front of them the leader bandit felt a splatter on both sides of his neck, turning around he saw his comrades headless bodies, at this he broke down and started to flail his arms full of his Ki anywhere. Elias used this to test out his new skill as he turned back into his human form, and stood in front of the bandit leader activating his skill instantly he saw the world and its movements in slow motion, grinning to himself he walked up further to the bandit, and said ¡°Hit me¡± this notion made the already raging bandit activate all of his Ki into his four limbs and try to hit the abomination in front of him. But to Elias he was just playing with this inferior human in front of his as he was laughing while taking great time to dodge the bandit leader attacks, but soon this grew tiresome as he could only use the skill for one minute before he grew a bit tired so with no warning Elias used his hand to cut through the air and the bandit leader head in one. As soon as they were done taking care of the pests they woke the carriage driver up who was shocked to see such a savage scene committed by these two children but quickly knew not to ask questions and they set off once again. Journey log day 21: As they arrived at the kingdom of Tirif both Elias and Jessica were very excited for the future tournament and immediately paid the carriage driver, and went off to rent a room in an inn to rest and train until a weeks time when they would take part in the entrance exam. Chapter 13: The Capital Tirif Chapter 13: The Capital Tirif Elias looked at this massive city in awe, never in a million years would he be able to see such sights in the forest, which also made him more grateful to his father for arranging this mission for him. ¡°Fufufu¡­ lord do you want to go sightseeing first or just go straight to an inn¡± Jessica said with an amused tone as she saw Elias¡¯s expression. Elias quickly fixed his expression back into a serious gaze, but still couldn''t help himself as he still looked around secretly ¡°Hmm¡­ First I believe we should go and rent a room at an inn first, and then you can guide me around, until we go back to train for the entrance exam ok¡±. ¡°Yes of course¡± Jessica quickly replied. Walking through the city, Elias¡¯s gaze couldn''t help but shift from one thing to another such as the blacksmiths, alchemists, training areas, food shops and the different people around him, that seemed to be attracted to his and Jessica¡¯s noble aura. Getting to an appropriate inn, the pair headed in and rented a room for two weeks just in case, for nine gold, which again people were shocked when, Elias used his inter-spatial ring. After checking out their room which was surprisingly very nice as it seemed to have been well treated by the owners of the inn. Stepping out into the busy streets again, Jessica showed Elias all of the main areas of the city such as the palace, the market square which had a golden statue with guards around it apparently it was the founder of the capital who had reached the immortal rank and hence moved over to the immortal continent and where the entrance exam will take place which was a large platform with a twelve foot crystal embedded into the wall next to the stage. Going back to there room, Jessica explained the entrance exam rules to Elias who listened without interrupting, it was like this: The heads of the exam will call names up one by one and will then put there hand on the crystal wall which will then show their whole name, age and Ki rank after the wall has judged you there will be a chance for the representative of a sect to try and recruit you, and if you accept a request people will then be eligible to duel you, if they win they will get your spot in the sect no matter what there Ki rank is like but if you win they will not be eligible to be accepted into a sect anymore. Elias liked these rules a lot as they have a balance talent and battle sense. As they reached the entrance of the inn they were immediately stopped by four brutish looking guards, sensing them they were all at the C rank, and because Elias couldn''t be bothered with the hassle, he passed the job of dealing with them to Jessica who immediately got in a rage. In her rage, she immediately let her Ki seep out creating an oppressive atmosphere around the inn, so it wouldn''t affect the people not involved, by letting her Ki out her hair started to lift, creating a she-demon appearance which Elias laughed at a bit while the guards quickly felt their backs stick to their shirts due to sweat. ¡°YOU. DARE. BLOCK. MY. LORDS. PATH!!¡± shouting this at the guards making them dazed from the shout. Elias didn''t really know why she was this mad but didn''t question it as it was very amusing watching four fully grown adults get beaten up by a little girl. After dealing with the guards which was just knocking them out while they were dazed by the shout they walked into the inn only to see a seventeen year old boy with two body guards next to him who were at the B rank, Elias knew that this person had a very big background, as not anyone can hire two B ranks to guard someone as they usually were mainly focused on fusing their elements. Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. The seventeen year old who had quite an average looking face coupled with his black eyes and brown hair wouldn''t really gain anyone¡¯s attention, but what did grab Elias¡¯s attention was his C rank in cultivation and at the age of seventeen was a pretty big feat in the human continent, but to Elias he quickly brushed this off and looked at him with his usual indifferent glare. The boy looked at the two who walked in with surprise as he didn''t expect the ones who dealt with the four C ranked guards would be two kids. But as soon as he looked at Jessica his secret perverse personality kicked in as he saw her doll like feature coupled with her Lolita dress would make any man mouth water. But as he glance at the younger kid, he didn''t feel anything from him so he didn''t really put him as a challenge so he quickly said trying to make a good impression to the lady before him ¡°My lady, I am terribly sorry for my guards, incompetence for blocking someone like you, if you would allow me I would like to express my apologies by taking you out somewhere entirely my treat, what do you say¡±. Acknowledging his actual intentions Jessica quickly retorted ¡°Humph¡­ you dare block my lord path and then even have the audacity to brush him off like he¡¯s nothing, if it wasn''t for my lords mercy he would have already crushed you¡­ but of course my lord wouldn''t really want to dirty his hands with people like you¡±. Hearing this the boy¡¯s face quickly darkened into an animal like state as not once has he not been able to get what he wanted in his life due to his background, so he quickly barked to his guards ¡°You two take her away for me, and just kill the midget!!¡±. The two guards nodded as they ran towards Jessica as there Ki aura was showing there might while Jessica did the same, but just as they were about to clash, Elias seemingly walked in front of the three and released not his Ki aura but his blood lust which quickly made the two guards stop in their tracks. Elias looked at the two and a small smile came to his mouth as he intensified the blood lust which made the two lower their heads and almost bow to him. Elias walked up to them and whispered ¡°Don''t fuck with me or I''ll slaughter you all, and tell your superior to back off unless he wants to be a cripple for the rest of his life kukuku¡±. While this happened the young boy was very shocked as he didn¡¯t feel the enormous blood lust from the young boy, and just saw his two guards which his father guaranteed bow to the boy, and after he whispered a bit to them he walked off with the young lady he wanted. Furious he barked at the two ashen face guards ¡°What are you two incompetent people doing letting my prize get away just because you are scared of a little boy, where¡¯s your pride!¡± the two guards were about to pass on the warning but seeing the arrogant and spoiled boy in front of them they just said ¡°We are terribly sorry m''lord but we just wanted you to show how talented you are to the girl and boy and put them in their place, I believe they will show up on the entrance exam so you could show them there seeing as they are staying in an inn¡±. The young boy thought for a bit and then nodded his head in approval ¡°Hmm¡­ of course I was already thinking of that hehe that''ll show them peasants¡± as he said this he headed to his own room, not noticing the two guards snickering behind him. Chapter 14: The Entrance Exam Chapter 14: The Entrance Exam 1 week later. Standing in the massive courtyard looking up to the stage and crystal wall, there were thousands of boys and girls aging from ten to twenty-five. These ranged from nobles to orphans, there were also the parents which, also took up quite a bit of space as they were watching if their son¡¯s or daughter¡¯s Ki cultivation was good or not. In the middle of the crowd there stood a small boy and girl both of which you could mistake for being dolls, these two were Elias and Jessica and they both grabbed a lot of attention from their opposing genders. After a while three elders from the capital¡¯s palace took their retrospective positions on the stage and started to explain the rules of the exam, and also introducing the sect¡¯s representatives, who were observing the new possible students from the sidelines. Finishing the formalities, one of the elders said ¡°Everyone please form an orderly line, so we can make this process simple and quick¡±. Saying this all of the examinees all rushed to form a line. Elias and Jessica however just walked to the back as they did not care wherever they were in the queue. One after one, duel after duel. All of this bored Elias to death as they all possessed average talent and were taken in by average sects, whenever someone had the cultivation of a C rank as they were under twenty-five they were immediately hailed as geniuses and were taken in by all the major sects. Suddenly Elias quickly recognised someone who was about to be tested, as it was the boy in the inn¡¯s turn to be analysed and Elias watched this with a cruel grin. As soon as the boy put his hand on the crystal wall it revealed: Name: Daniel Menthez Age: 17 Cultivation: Peak C rank Element: N/A Quickly the entire courtyard seemed to buzz with talks some saying about his cultivation at that age and others commenting on his background, all of this seemed to inflate the boy¡¯s ego as he seemed to look down upon the crowd as if he was a king, until his gaze lied on Elias and a large grin spread on his face, and as he drifted over to Jessica he licked his lips which was filled with obscenity. Time flew by and it was now Jessica¡¯s turn to go up, as she raised her hand towards the wall it glowed and revealed: Name: Jessica Ravencroft Age: 17 Cultivation: Mid B rank Element: Fire (Yet to be fused) This caused a massive uproar as this kind of talent is once in a thousand years, quickly the sect representatives from all around tried to get her to join, as her talent would set them apart from the other sects. But to their dismay she answered them all by saying ¡°Whatever sect my lord chooses, I shall also join that one as well¡± pointing at Elias who then had seemingly gained the whole courtyard¡¯s attention. The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation. As Elias walked up the stage, there were thousands of gazes resting on his back as they all wanted to see the man who had one of the best talents in the whole of the human continent as a servant. Feeling all of the stares at his back Elias couldn''t help but look proud and smirk at the obvious glares from all of the sect representatives. Putting his hand onto the Crystal wall it glowed a lot brighter than when Jessica put her hand on, and the revealed information looked like this: Name: Elias Tails Age: 10 Cultivation: Early A rank Elements: Lightning and Blood (Fused) Silence. No one spoke, they were all fixated onto the crystal wall and then to the arrogant looking boy on the stage, all of the elders on the stage and the entire sect representatives looked like their eyes were about to pop out, seemingly looking at the monster before them. Walking up to the stage Jessica said ¡°Fufufu my lord, your talent is too much for them they have already seemed to have forgotten about me¡±. Hearing this the entire courtyard started a gossip spree and all of the representatives rushed towards Elias with benefits of all shapes and sizes as they would get two of the biggest monsters in the human continent in terms of talent in their sects. Considering all of the offers, Elias noticed one representative did not get up in fact he did not offer or get up the entire ceremony which surprised Elias, walking up to the old man Elias couldn''t sense the rank of he quickly said in an arrogant manner ¡°I''ll join you¡± pointing at the old man who opened his eyes in surprise but quickly said ¡°why?¡± this made Elias smile as he did not accept him on talent alone he replied quickly saying ¡°Your interesting, plus you seem to smell of blood hehe¡± hearing this the old man again had a look of surprise on his face as he didn¡¯t believe anyone could smell this, but he quickly smiled ¡°Fine, I''ll accept both of you , welcome to the Blood Demon sect. Meet me tomorrow at the city¡¯s gate at nine, if you''re not there I''ll leave without you¡± saying this the old man quickly disappeared leaving Elias with a savage smile on his face as he knew things were about to get interesting, just from the name he seemed to shake with glee. After getting out of his stupor, Elias looked around again for the arrogant boy, seeing he was still there he smiled at the boy making the boy shiver, Elias thought to himself ¡®Kukuku I¡¯ll leave him with a present so he won''t forget me, trying to compete against me¡¯. Soon after both Elias and Jessica escaped from the public and retired in their inn for the last time. Chapter 15; Blood Demon Sect Chapter 15: Blood Demon Sect Eagerly waiting at the gate for the sect elder, both Elias and Jessica were incomparably excited as Elias knew based off of the name of the sect there would be lots of action there, while Jessica was excited as she could follow her young lord, as she grew very close to him even more than her own family had. Waiting for another half an hour, the sect elder showed up with five more people including that boy who still acted arrogantly, but seemed to have toned down when he saw Elias. ¡°Ok kids, you can call me elder Laqua. I''ll give you twenty minutes to introduce yourselves to each other, then we''ll leave anyone who can''t keep up will be left behind. Understood¡± the sect elder said with little care. A little shocked at the short introduction, the new disciples quickly replied in an eager tone ¡°Understood¡±. Leaving them to get on with introductions elder Laqua backed off. Immediately most of the new disciples went up to Elias and quickly introduced themselves, as they knew about his talent which could be said one of the greatest in history. But while pretending to listen Elias didn''t put any of the new disciples in his eyes as at most they had C ranked talent. When the time came to an end, they all followed the sect elder in front of them with Elias and Jessica keeping up with ease, while the rest had a more troublesome time. After three hours of solid running they finally came to a stop with the lesser ranked disciples heavily breathing. Walking through a sinister looking forest, the sect elder came to a stop and started talking ¡°Everyone, we are about to enter the Blood Demon sect, don¡¯t rush about and just keep behind me. I will quickly explain the rules we have here, it¡¯s not much so don''t worry first of all no matter what your rank is now, you will still start as an outer sect member, every year there will be a challenge to get into the inner sect then to the core sect there will be a challenge in one months time, secondly you are only allowed to leave the sect when you are a core member of the sect, thirdly you will have access to the first two layers of the skill hall once you are an inner sect member and the top two layers when you are a core member, and lastly if you want something fight for it we at the Blood Demon sect do not care about how many people you kill, but if you anger others by killing someone don''t come running to us as it will be your problem. One last piece of advice if you feel you are not strong enough join a faction as they will help defend you as long as you can benefit them, got it¡­. Good¡± The elder held his hand out towards the open space and directed his Ki outside of his body into the air, soon a ripple affect appeared and everyone near to it was sucked in. Elias marvelled in the scenery before him as it was like a small town with houses for the disciples taking up most of the room, the further you looked the bigger the buildings were, with two massive buildings at the back. All of the buildings had a main colour theme of red on the top and white or black as the walls with some having patterns and other decorations, it was clear that this sect was not lacking in money. Sensing the people around him, most had D or C ranked cultivation while a few others had just barely stepped into the B rank, this was most likely the outer sect area as the houses were the smallest. If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. Suddenly the elder turned around to the new disciples and said ¡°Here is the outer sect area only when you are inner and core members will you be able to access the other areas, around here is the housing estate if you like the look of a house just kill the residents inside and it will be yours if you find the tool to unlock and lock the house. I shall bid you all good luck on your cultivation in the future, and I will now take my leave. Separating from the group immediately Elias and Jessica walked around exploring the area, and found that there was a lot of violence in this area even a few members tried to kill Elias just to get there hands on Jessica and his inter-spatial ring as this was a rare item even in the inner sect apparently, needless to say all who approached him literally fried when he wanted to test out his rank one lightning skill, this made sure all of the lesser members dare not approach him again. Getting towards night-time Elias found a house that was a lot bigger than the rest of the outer sect houses but still was smaller than the inner sect houses, and with the strange golden pythons that decorated the walls of the house Elias took a liken to it as it reminded him about his dad, and he chose to kill the person who owned the house immediately. Knocking on the door thunderously, he could hear cursing inside which made Elias giggle as he loved to mess with people quickly sensing the house Elias saw that there were two people in it both were at the C rank. Jessica felt sorry for the people inside as they had to die tonight. Opening the door to his beloved house which his elder brother gifted him, Medius saw a small boy in front of him but already looking away he saw one of the most beautiful girls he ever saw in his entire life and a big grin fell on his face, but was soon replaced with fear as he saw the young boy holding a bloody red sword which pierced into his thigh, with terror he quickly revolved his Ki around his body to heal the wound, and took out his sword which was seemingly plain but had a magical gem in it which kept the blade eversharp. But his efforts were in vain as he reacted in horror to the A ranked Ki seeping out of the young boy but despite the fear he quickly poured Ki into his telepathic ring which was linked to his brothers and said ¡°B..b..brother help please help, my house two people one little boy and one girl come quickly if not I''m going to¡­.¡± Hearing this call for help a very skinny and haggard looking man opened his now bloodshot eyes that held back a few tears and rushed towards the outer sect estate revolving his peak B rank Ki to his legs to make him go faster. Back in the house Elias sat on top of two corpses while looking at the locking gem for the house with a smile as he sensed a telepathic message being sent, so he would now expect backup to arrive shortly, taking the telepathic ring off of the dead man¡¯s hand he placed it onto one of his fingers, smiling he said to himself but loud enough that Jessica could hear it ¡°Now lets wait for the full set shall we kukuku¡±. Chapter 16: Settling In Chapter 16: Settling In Two weeks have past since Elias and Jessica took up residence in their new house, and over this time they have made an unofficial rule between all of the other outer sect members ¡®don¡¯t go towards the biggest house unless you are willing to die¡¯. This was made when everyone gathered round the house, as they saw three inner sect members loudly pronounce what Elias had done and how he should step outside to have a duel, seeing Elias and Jessica step outside they were all ridiculing Elias¡¯s bad luck as the inner sect member was at the peak of the B rank at only twenty-three years of age. But soon the ridicule turned to fear and reverence as Elias released his Ki and formed a bloody red sword that seemed to form from the last residents corpse and cleanly struck the young man¡¯s head while jumping to make up for the height distance, which chopped the shocked man¡¯s head off, and seeing the young boy walk back into his house while yawning was even more shocking and gained him the nickname ¡®young devil¡¯. Sitting in the centre of the room Elias was training in his rank four skill that Elias appropriately named ¡®quick judgement¡¯ at the moment Elias could keep the skill up for half an hour, and with his demi-beast form he had peace of mind over his safety. While Elias was training his skills, Jessica was still trying to fuse he Ki with her element and was very happy with the speed of her progression, because as soon as she could fuse her element she could spend more time with Elias. Another week had passed and Elias was now training his skill with the sword, but seeing as he didn¡¯t use it often it wasn''t his main priority, as at the moment Elias was experimenting with his rank one skill as he thought about the skill he came to the hypothesis that if he used more Ki into the skill he can manipulate more swords or other weapons and use them as a ranged attack. Time after time of trying this he finally got results as he could now control over ten sword and use them as projectiles but creating more swords meant that the quality goes down the more you made, and to Elias this was ok as the skill was only the bottom tier and if he got a higher tiered skill he could form more which had a better quality. This in turn sparked his excitement for the upcoming challenge to get into the inner sect as he could then enter the skill house. The next morning Elias and Jessica went straight to the signing up board for the upcoming challenge, this board had over three thousand names on, while only twenty could join the inner sect, getting some more information off of a terrified sect member apparently the challenge would be announced the day before and rumours are that the prize would be a rank five skill to your choice of element if you come first. Signing up, Elias¡¯s eyes were filled with fire as he could imagine that skill becoming his. Over the next few days Elias and Jessica spent their days purely training only getting up to eat from time to time, as there Ki could not yet serve as nutrition for the body. Finally the day before the challenge was upon the outer sect as everyone who signed up to the challenge gathered in a large clearing which was outside a massive building which was oval in shape and looked like a coliseum, but everyone¡¯s attention was on the three elders that stood above them showing their position as these were the people who would look over the challenge and would give the challenge out. The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation. Suddenly the middle elder spoke ¡°Everyone, today we will give out the challenge on behalf of the leader of the sect, but first I would like to say that once we have explained the challenge, everyone will be guided into the building behind us and will stay there until the challenge has ended anyone caught leaving will be given an appropriate punishment. Understood¡± his sharp tone made some of the weaker members shudder unconsciously, but everyone present answered the same way ¡°Understood¡±. With a small smile the elder continued ¡°Ok the challenge this year will be a king of the hill type game, the rules are as follows: only twenty people are allowed on the top of the hill, everyone will fight to get one of those places, you are allowed to kill, at the end of the time limit which will be twelve hours the remaining twenty people who are at the top of the hill, will have a free for all and the last one standing will get the prize of a rank five skill of your choice of element of course if you can''t use skills yet you can store it away but you will then be targeted by others also during the free for all you will not be allowed to kill only incapacitate or until a person gives up as the twenty of you will be automatically allowed into the inner sect. Any questions?¡±. A silence rung out for five seconds until the middle elder nodded to himself and led everyone inside the coliseum like building. Inside you could get the feel for the sheer size of the building as it was three hundred metres long, two hundred metres wide and one hundred metres tall most people gasped at the magnificent building including Elias and Jessica, as not every sect had this type of facility. Soon everyone started to settle down and start to train or replenish Ki while some of the more confident ones went to sleep to have a good start in the morning. Elias and Jessica chose to sleep as they knew nothing drastic would happen over night in their cultivation so they made sure to have a fatigue-less start tomorrow as even Elias couldn¡¯t take on thousands of members even if they were low ranks compared to him. Waking up to sound of Jessica, Elias looked around and saw that the terrain had changed immensely as the once flat ground had risen up to make a fifty metre hill with a flat top for the king of the hill to stand on. Still shocked about how this happened, but Elias didn''t have time to question as he saw a smirking elder and with a deafening shout he said ¡°Now ladies and gentlemen. Begin!!!!¡±. All of a sudden thousands of members started to climb this hill while other immediately attacked each other, already starting the slaughter, but both Elias and Jessica had agreed to wait until closer to the time limit as it would be a waste of time now. Chapter 17: The Challenge part 1 Chapter 17: The Challenge part 1 ¡°Ok¡­ your twelve hours start¡­ now. Good luck¡± the elder shouted to the disciples. Suddenly a torrent of people started rushing towards the hill. ¡°Idiots¡± Elias muttered under his breath. This immediately made Elias smile on the inside as not only would most of the ¡®trash¡¯ disciples lose most of their Ki energy by the time Elias plans to strike, but also it would help him get better grasp of the disciples he should be wary of. Looking around, Elias observed around two hundred people still resting for the time limit to go down, most of these people were smart but with average strength, but there were a few hidden B ranks in between all of the disciples still sitting, this made Elias worry a bit about Jessica¡¯s position. Thinking about it Elias would just smash his way through with Jessica in tow. After a few hours had passed. Bodies were scattered all over the place, which gave Elias an advantage when it came to his elements but he was still bothered about the smell, as hundreds of dead bodies did not particularly smell pleasant. Opening her eyes from training, Jessica asked ¡°Lord, may I ask if you have a plan to make your way up, and at what time shall I be ready for¡±. Elias turned to her and plainly said ¡°We¡¯ll leave with half an hour to spare, for a plan¡­ I shall go in front taking advantage of the many corpses to take on groups of people, and you can take on the stragglers. Agreed?¡±. ¡°Of course¡± Jessica followed up. Half an hour to go till the end of the challenge, Elias abruptly stood up followed by Jessica. Spying around as soon as Elias stood up many others did as well. This led to Elias having a smile on his face as he always enjoyed a challenge. Walking up to the bottom of the hill, there were many corpses around; Elias immediately activated his blood element, creating ten swords floating around him and Jessica. Looking up the hill Elias saw many battles taking place. Smiling Elias slowly walked up the hill without a care in the world. Gradually climbing the hill, many low ranked people came to attack Elias foolishly, as all Elias had to do was lift a finger towards the person and a sword would abruptly stab them, in fact Elias could just control the swords using his mind but Elias found it much cooler to point a finger at someone and kill them instantly. 1¡­.. 5¡­¡­.. 13¡­¡­ weak ¡­.. 21¡­¡­.. 33 ¡­ weak ¡­.. 45 ¡­¡­¡­ 59 ¡­¡­¡­..100 ¡­ WEAK ¡­. 127 Elias was very frustrated the more he killed the weak people and actually pondered if they had any common sense as they could see people getting mowed down by him, but they still judged him by appearance. Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there. Soon enough Elias just gave up and de-summoned the blood swords and let Jessica take care of the bothers. Half way up the hill Elias sensed two B ranked disciples, both were boys, twins in fact both with almond brown hair, but one had grey irises while the other had murky blue the one with grey irises seemed to have a more pudgy body compared to the others lean but muscular body. No words were spoken as both parties knew what would happen, Elias used this as a perfect time to test his sword skills, bringing out his sword which didn¡¯t suit his height and got into a slight stance, the two boys immediately rushed down hill at him one going to the left the other to the right. Elias straight away knew these two had quite good teamwork as both matched each others speed well. Coming closer to Elias the fatter twin swept his leg from behind while the other kicked towards Elias¡¯s body in front of him trying to trap him in, but Elias of course wouldn¡¯t fall for this as he immediately slashed his sword down to the front twins ankle while stepping forward to avoid the behind kick. Hitting the boy¡¯s ankle didn¡¯t result well as both boys had high ranked magical plating on their hands and legs, this resulted in Elias¡¯s hands going numb, Elias knew that the sword needed to absorb more blood to get stronger and sharper. The two boys went in again both trying to wear down Elias by making him dodge punches, not finding an opening Elias decided to take the full force of one of the punches from the boys, doing this shocked him for a moment and that moment was all Elias needed for him to cut his head off. This made the other boys go into a frenzy, making his Ki go wild which resulted in a high rebound but gave him triple strength and a faster attack time, knowing he couldn''t take the punches head on, he waited for an obvious let down in guard and as he did he twisted his body as fast as possible to get to the right side of his opponent but as he did a punch grazed his shoulder causing a dislocation but Elias kept going and swiftly turning his sword matching the momentum sliced the boy in half. Seeing this spectacle, all of the lower ranked people now knew not to approach him, letting his sword absorb the two¡¯s blood, Elias turned to watch the separated Jessica but turning round he saw a female demon as Jessica was using all sorts of methods to kill her opponents, while walking on top of the already killed bodies. A small chill passed through Elias as he saw this but paid no mind to it, after a few minutes Jessica walked up to Elias with a keen urge to carry on, seeing this Elias popped his shoulder back into place, and started his journey back up to the top.