We took the castle to ourselves, a great improvement, I may add, from the gloomy caves we lived in so far, and cleaned up the place from any undead and smelly creatures.
It didn't took long either to discover who Faust, the skull, was as we found the necromancer old diary; he was the necromancer lover from back when he was still alive, but it seemed they weren't receive well by their prestigious families as they weren't satisfied in been mere lovers; as many other families had it seems; and tried to flee together.
But their families were livid for the dishonoring act and chase them down, which ended up with his lover dying on his arms, never having the chance to live together as they wished.
The necromancer, however, had already studied the basics of Soul Manipulation and some necromancer skills, and manage to take a branch off a fallen tree and trap his lover's soul in it before it went away.
He had his revenge then, but he still felt guilty off for what happened.
Since then he has been trying to revive him.
Hum, couldn't blame him. Losing a love one is not easy, and I don't even know what I would do if I ever lose my brother, probably would lose myself seeking revenge…
But enough of that, I had plenty of compassion for him to buried him with the skull, even though he didn't deserved it; but my brother kept pestering me on how we needed to be different from them, to show compassion when they don't, otherwise we could not complain of their treatment if we gave out the same, and blablabla.
Honestly, I thought to be a naïve line of thought, but did it anyway only to shut him up.
We explored the castle too, finding the remaining books that survived the fight, and a lot of crystals hidden behind a locked room.
My brother didn't understand anything written on then, and neither did I at the beginning, but I learned how to read easily, turning the pages with my Shadow Manipulation, while my brother burned two books trying to read a line.
Sigh.
I studied geography, politics, music; Why not?; and some scattered information here and there, never having the continuation of the volumes, which was a little annoying but oh well.
By then five years passed in a blink of an eye.
We took that long to absorbed the crystals, but didn't gain that much experience nor any special ability for most of them were snow and water creatures crystals, the totally opposite of us.
Wouldn't make sense to learn Water Ball now would it?
But now I, proudly, present our hard work through all these years of hunting, absorbing crystals and training:
Older Brother
-Appraisal completed-
Name: Palarran Thilgon Mìnaothon
Gender: Male
Race: Platinum Hell Hound
Age: 5
Level: 49
HP: 1340-1340
MP: 315-315
SP: 1975-1975
Attributes: Fire, Shadow
Titles: The Wise, Angry One, Reincarnated, Older Brother, Whispering Voice, Strategist
Attacks: Claw 48, Bite 49, Swim 10, Fireball 42, Fire Breath 47, Sneak 49, Dodge 52, Dash 48, Sing 72, Tail Whip 20
Magic: Appraisal 44, Berserker Mode 2, Voice of the Night MAX, Presence Sense 49, Healing Saliva 33, Telepathy (Young Brother), Intimidation 50
Fire Magic: Hell Form Bone, Fire Manipulation 44, Fire Jump 46, Fire Dash 48, Fire Shield 32
Shadow Magic: Shadow Veil 47, Shadow Merge 46, Shadow Manipulation 47, Shadow Pocket 30, Shadow Tentacles 37, Shadow Illusion 32, Shadow Slash 38, Shadow Spikes 48
Resistances: Fire 52, Fatigue 50, Hunger 47, Water 9, Cold 15, Earth 22, Poison 10, Bleed 46, Paralyze 5
Language: Hound Language MAX, Common Language MAX, Elven Language MAX
Ineptitudes: None yet
Status: Working out, showing those muscles ~
Younger Brother
-Appraisal completed-
Name: Palarran Hunthor Mìnaothon
Gender: Male
Race: Fire Hell Hound
Age: 5
Level: 47
HP: 520-520
MP: 1910-1910
SP: 800-800
Attributes: Fire
Titles: Younger Brother, Good Boy, Magic Holder, Graspy Singer, Fire Holder
Attacks: Claw 22, Bite 24, Swim 12, Tail Whip 33, Aim 53, Support 46
Magic: Presence Sense 35, Healing Saliva 33, Telepathy (Older Brother), Intimidation 5
Fire Magic: Hell Form Scaled, Fire Form 52, Fire Manipulation 52, Fire Barrier 52, Fire Arrow 52, Fire Whip 52, Heat Illusion 52, Laser Bean 52, Healing Heat 52, Fire Slash 52, Fireball 52, Fire Breath 52, Fire Armor 52, Lava Breath 52, Explosive Ball 52
Resistances: Fire 52, Water 7, Earth 12, Poison 9, Illusion 4, Bleed 47, Cold 13, Fatigue 45, Hunger 46
Language: Hound Language MAX, Common Language 3, Elven Language 5
Ineptitudes: Sing -73, Stealth -5
Status: Lazing around without letting my brother know~~~
Hell.
Yeah.
We have our Hell form now!! Wow ho!
Though is funny, it can be different as well depending on our skills. Instead of level it only has the type, and it increases our abilities 5 levels above, as well as 100 basic points when in use.
Not much if you think about it, but without costs nor disadvantage it was a great deal, plus we looked even cooler, if that's even possible.
My brother looked like mother; probably had the same line of evolution then her; with scales instead of fur, but a more reddish color then black when the light shone on his scales, as well as growing on size, tall as a horse.
Now me… well, I kind of looked even more terrifying. I didn't have scales, grew even bigger then my brother, my fur turned pure black, and my face was covered by an outside skull, as well as some horns with the appearance of sharp bones going thought my back until the end of my long whip tail that ended in a pair of sharp bone-horns.
Badass right?
Though I only had the tail in this form, pity.
We lived as peaceful we could muster in those five years, but didn't evolve as much as I wanted too; even more magic, it's has been months since the last new one.
It was hardly enough, and I was already making up plans of leaving and what not when… well, let's get it quickly as a Band-Aid so it doesn't hurt my pride.
We kind of met our first dragon, and he was the first creature to have more than a pair of number on his level, though how much even I couldn't know.
And well, he kind of wanted our castle, so we politely run away with our tails between our legs without looking back to give it to him.
All ended well in the end, but I like to think that we were already leaving, just got out earlier- cough.
But really, I have been thinking about what to do next, since the snow creatures weren't helping much anymore, and been hurt by fire; from the high level dragon, but by fire!; made me realize that we needed to focus on levels now, for our skills to the basic ones, as the snow environment improved us painfully slow.
So… we should go to a desert and hunt down fire creatures and increase our abilities and magic.
But first…
"You promise that we would visit, brother~" Whined for the tenth time in the morning/night. "This way they will even forget who we are, and you said we could visit, and would visit, and…"
"Fine, fine, fine! If we pass there first will you stop pestering me?"
I guess it was easy to know who he was talking about. For my lazy brother, the few things I saw him putting an effort in to learn something all this years were the Elf Language.
Well, to get to the desert we needed to pass back through the forest, so I don't see any harm done in passing to say hello.
Though it took longer than that, of course.
We wake up early, which means when the sun was still up and about to drop down, and the woods had a warm aura, the beans of light passing though the leaves with a warm orange glow.
It was actually not that far from where we lived with mother, but getting there was not an easy feat. First the wood got so dense that even the sun was obscured, and someone not use to such uneven grounds would have fallen from the dark hidden steps and roots.
And up the mountain we go!
Just to go back down!
Well, it was well located strategically speaking. But how any carriage and big goods passed to there? Scratch there, does they even receive merchants from the outside? Or outsiders for that matter?
Aeglos said we were welcomed… I hope so, otherwise my brother will be very sad, he waited a long time for it after all.
My brother was very happy by my side, his new tail going all round and sometimes hitting me. You would think that after five years he would have learned how to kept it to himself, but nope, still clumsy hitting everything.
But that was a little cute, I'll admit.
We arrived at a huge waterfall and knew we should stop there. It wasn't the entrance as one might think, but were you asked for permission and was guided to there.
I waited by a rock with my brother paddling in the water, trying to catch a fish; and falling miserably; when I finally heard the hooves of the deer coming from the woods. I sat down, with my back straight and ears up, while my brother got out of the water and wiggle himself dry, throwing water all over me.
Earning a stare, he sits beside me with his tail wiggling, and the tongue out.
Three of them come out of the woods, riding immense deer and wearing green and brown, nothing to fancy but very practical for the forest.
"Who goes there?"
I stand, give two steps forward and say: "My name is Palarran Thilgon Mìnaothon, and this is my brother, Palarran Hunthor Mìnaothon, we came in the name of Narwain Aeglos Mìnaothon as his guests."
They stare at me, petrified, and for a moment I think if I said something wrong, but no, all the time that I passed training and memorizing the names so much that even my brother remember then wouldn't let me say anything wrong. Then…
I just wait, raising an eyebrow, questioning.
"Minaothon you say? I see, you are the Hell Hounds pups that were saved from the smugglers five years ago?"
"That is correct." He nods.
"Then follow me, Palarran."
That's it? He will just take my word for it? Oh, right, I cannot lie in Elven Language, something to be aware of, hm.
We walked more, following them as one stayed on the right, one up the front and the other to the right. I looked at them, a scold forming in my face from been cornered, but the elf on the right, a green haired one, just smiled at me and winked. "So you don't get lost" He mouthed.
The bushes and trees got thicker, and a white mist rose, making almost impossible to see. I see, is a camouflage spell hum, clever, but a little useless on us, after all, hounds use more their nose them eyes to guide them.
Not that I would say anything at that, of course. My brother may want to visit them, but my job is to always stay alert, and trust no one. Well, except my brother I guess.
The one in front stops and give passage, walking sideways, as he says, motioning for us to advance: "Welcome, Palarran, to Serie Sarnoron, your peace and free homeland."
As he finishes I finally get to look at the place, the sun still shining, enable the glorious view to be even more breathtaking.
~~~~
MC: I took so long to remember all those names and say they out loud without misspelling ༼☯﹏☯༽
By the way, the next chapter will be… ( ͡~ ͜ʖ ͡°)