When I woke, the sun was setting. It seems that I have successfully transitioned into a night Cat. For breakfast, I decided to eat some raw Fish. I'm a Cat, and I honestly don't know how to reach the Dining Room again. These Fish are within paw reach. Regarding my Candy situation, if each bucket actually has 90 pieces of Candy, then I should have around 220 pieces of Candy. Each piece is worth 4 MP, and so I have enough Candy to heal Mr Scarecrow back from the dead over 4 times. With that in mind, I think it might be safe for me to confront Victor about my goal of finding Skeletons, Zombies, and Vampires. If things go south, I'll summon Mr Scarecrow and have him hold off Victor while I escape via Broom. Lily will no doubt chase me, and I doubt I can escape her. Wait! Hold on. I'm clearly being too rash. I need to get stronger if I want to confront these guys about something potentially dangerous.
If you think about it, me coming to the Demon Kingdom and trying to steal monsters is kind of a crime. I'm effectively trying to steal their war potential. Victor is wealthy and in power. I can't afford to casually mention my goals here. In order for me to be capable of outrunning Lily in the event that it does go south, I'll need to be a high enough level for my AGI to outshine hers. There's no helping it. Even if I found a comfortable place to stay while in the Demon Kingdom, I still need to go train in the wilderness for at least a week. I'm exasperated. Why didn't I just do that last night instead of chasing Lily? What's done is done, I guess. Yes. I refuse to believe that my finding Lily and Victor was not actually a potential lead. I just need to be strong enough to warrant them giving information regarding that potential lead. That's all.
With this in mind, I took on my Human form, got dressed, and grabbed my Candy. Where am I going? Somewhere. I quickly got lost inside of the Temple and can't find my way out. This place is needlessly big. There's no staff anywhere, and there are no windows. The light inside is sparse, I actually don't understand how anyone can live here. Is night vision seriously a necessity to traverse this 'home'? Can someone please inform me what is so wondrous about that? While criticizing this place out of frustration for being hopelessly lost inside of it, I came across a library. It's also quite large. It might hold a book detailing how to escape this labyrinth of a home? Kidding. Back to the hallways...
Becoming slightly hysterical after having found a prison filled with torture devices, I noticed that some of the prison cells actually had people currently trapped inside. This place is beyond twisted. There is blood all over the place, and I'm getting a sick feeling in my stomach. The stench of people near death is overbearing. Alas, I must move on! I'm sorry, everyone. I lack the keys or abilities to open these cells. I also lack the abilities to find a single window inside of this compound. Even if I free them somehow by breaking bars with the stalks of grass which make up Mr Scarecrow, I still can't find a way out of here. If I free them, there's a large chance of me being caught and then joining them afterwards. It's no use. I'm level 1 and this place is no joke. I'm filled with guilt as I walk past their tortured screams and sobs. Some beg me for help, while others seem to understand that I can't do a single thing.
The Demon Kingdom may appear like a paradise in the open air of the city, but this has completely turned the tables for my perspective on it. To think that beneath these massive Temples lay dozens of slaves being tortured. They don't even seem to pertain to any given race. These people are not all Humans or Beastkin down here. There are Demons as well. There are far too many of them for them to simply be lawbreakers. I was on the verge of passing out when I escaped the torture area. The stench of death is no longer as prevalent, and I'm beginning to be able to breath again. I'm back in the hallways, thankfully I found Lily. She's skipping down the hallways. I never thought I would be so happy to see that pink, frilly dress.
"Good Evening~ Whatcha doin?" [Lily the Loli] sings happily upon seeing Nero.
"Hello Lily, I was actually hoping to run into you. I can't seem to find a way to leave the Temple. I would like to go train in the wilderness for the night." [Nero]
"Oh? Is that so? I guess that's fine. I was hoping that you might want to play with me again tonight… Anyways, follow me!" [Lily the Loli] said dejectedly as she began to show Nero the way through the Temple.
"Thank you very much! I'd love to play with you again, but I'm afraid I must train as hard as I can if I ever hope to beat you!" [Nero]
"Wahahaha! You should just give up and submit yourself to me already, but it's amusing to watch you struggle I guess." [Lily the Loli] mocked.
"Hahahahaha! No. I'll try my best!" [Nero] spat out instinctively.
And like that, the crisis of whether or not I had the capability of escaping this madhouse came to an end. It took about 20 Minutes for us to exit the Temple while making small talk. The size of that Temple is no joke. There's a huge part of me that wants to never come back again. Actually, I think that I just might not come back again. Yeah. Let's leave this Temple and not turn back. Some homes aren't worth the trouble. Not even temporarily. Thinking that, a sudden shock came to mind. What if those people being tortured turned into Ghosts? Would I be able to capture them as my Clansmen then? Only in the afterlife may I provide you salvation?
Let's not think of it for now. That's a thought for if I wind up being incapable of escaping from the Temple even now that I have physically left the Temple. Yeah. If by misfortune I find myself in the Temple again, I'll try to see if I can save some Ghosts. If not, no big deal. Let's get stronger. Ghosts might not even be a real monster anyways. Hopping on my Broom, I flew to the outskirts of town and began to scour the Jungle for monsters to fight. I need experience. I want MP so that I can have my own home. One without torture chambers, thanks. Also, I want my home to not be a mess to try and escape from. We're gonna need windows.
While exploring, I met a large and colorful Crab monster. The colors are unique, and I highly doubt that it can become one of my Clansmen. So, raising my Lantern to face it, I chant:
"Come forth, Scarecrow! Protect myself from this evil Crab monster!" [Nero]
Instantly, Orange light begins to shine brightly from my Lantern before seeping out towards the Crab monster and manifesting my Scarecrow. He has orange flames emitting from his empty eye and mouth sockets now, instead of the purple that I had witnessed when I first met him. The Scarecrow puffed his chest before letting out a scream to intimidate the Crab. A moment later, he charged at the Crab and swiped using its arms as if to smash it. I've witnessed this move during the attack on the Goblin Village. It must be [Stalk Thrash]. The Crab seemed irritated, and attempted to stab Mr Scarecrow's legs with its shell. Checking the Scarecrows status, I can see that it isn't taking very much damage. Nevertheless, I began eating Candy to help it regenerate.
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With newfound vigor, the Scarecrow continued the assault against the Crab, thrashing at it repeatedly. Because all of the damage being dealt to the Scarecrow is being regenerated by me and my Candy, this battle of attrition is leaning in our favor. The Crab is relentless, but it doesn't seem to notice that I'm actually the threat here. It can't be helped as I'm flying above the battle at this point. I doubt the Crab could reach me even if it wanted to. Witches are terrifying. After about 20 minutes, the Scarecrow finally managed to put an end to the Crab. I think that it probably had a high amount of physical resistance. During the battle, I finished off my half empty bucket of Candy, leaving me with 2 full buckets remaining.
[Level Up! You have reached Level 2!]
[Level Up! You have reached Level 3!]
[Level Up! You have reached Level 4!]
[Level Up! You have reached Level 5!]
Wow. So killing the Crab was actually kind of a feat in itself. I managed to gain 4 Levels off my first kill. I'm impressed! Good job, Mr Scarecrow! Could never have done it without you! After the battle finished, Mr Scarecrow seems to have decided to return to Halloween; as he evaporated into the familiar orange light before returning to my Lantern. He has done well. I should check my status~
Name: Unnamed Monster (Nero Miki)
Race: Cat (Halloween)
Weapon: Lantern (Poor Iron Lantern)
Mount: Broom (Common Wooden Broom)
Class: Halloween Cat (Sub Class: Witch/Tamer)
Level: 5
HP: 25/25
MP: 102/104(+4)
SP: 80/100
FP: 70/100
P. DEF: 5
M. DEF: 5
STR: 20
INT: 52(+2)
DEX: 15
LUK: 5
AGI: 30
Titles:
[True Halloween Cat], [From Another World]
Abilities Learned:
[Flying Broom], [Soul Merge], [Clansmen Capture], [Hallowed Gate], [This is Halloween], [Wailing Keep], [Language Comprehension], [Shapeshift], [Barrier], [Daily Candy], [Claw Fishing], [Disguise], [Recovery by Sleep], [Enhanced Meditating]
After all of that, I don't seem to have learned any new Abilities. I've gained stat points and that's fine, but I can't help feeling a little bit disappointed that I haven't learned new Abilities. I guess it's fine if I have Mr Scarecrow. Now that I think about it, I still don't know what [This is Halloween] or [Soul Merge] do. They came with my race and I never checked them until now. They weren't detailed while I was choosing the race. Maybe they appeared because I'm the True Halloween Cat? Looking closer at them, an Info button appeared. Yosh~
[This is Halloween: For 24 Hours, Enables Night time everywhere. Has a cooldown of 365 Days. During Halloween, all Clansmen take less damage.] Woah. So this is a one time get out of jail free card, letting me summon my Monsters for a lower cost of MP even during the daytime. Handy. Isn't this like freaking WORLD CLASS Magic though?!
[Soul Merge: Merges 3 identical Clansmen of the same Tier to allow for Evolution] Oh. Okay. Sooo with this, I can forcibly Evolve my Monsters if I collect three of the same race and Tier. It's kind of neat. I wonder if the stats add up for it to be beneficial.
Knowing my abilities now, I guess I have no room to complain even if I don't learn new ones down the road. As long as I can continue to find more Clansmen, then I should be able to get stronger. It might not be me getting stronger directly, but they're my comrades. If they protect me, I'll feed them the MP that they desperately need. If they join me, I might even help them Evolve. It's a win-win. Still, day time is no doubt our biggest obstacle. Without the protection of the Temple and without the Wailing Keep... I simply can't let my guard down. I need comrades who aren't related to Halloween to protect me during the day. This much is becoming obvious. It might prove fortuitous for me to venture to the Beastkin Kingdom for this sole reason. Beastkin will have a higher chance of forming a party with me, and of viewing me as an equal.
Thinking about it that way makes me feel a little sad. Earth didn't have this much prejudice. I guess these are times of war, so it's excusable. But still, everywhere I go... It seems that people are assuming things about me simply because I'm a Cat. The Goblin Villagers would not speak to me because I was not green skinned. Victor went so far as to say that I shouldn't even show my ears in this entire Kingdom. What's more? All of the other races seem to have separated into their own Kingdoms or Cities. It's like, way too prejudiced in this world... Right?! I'm literally the only Cat of my kind, so I might not even be welcome in the Beastkin Kingdom either! I hope that's not the case. I'll be quite frustrated if I need to brave the day every damned day alone for the rest of my life. I need friends!
Sulking, I decided to eat more raw Fish. I'm running out of Fish, actually. I decided to search for the ocean. A nice refreshing bath would be nice. Flying while eating, I noticed that this was indeed the most southern Kingdom of the continent. Instead of a beach however, there is a sharp cliff surrounding this side of the continent. Ships arriving to the Demon Kingdom seem unlikely if this is the case. On arriving at the utmost southern part of the Kingdom, I notice an island in the distance further south. It might be an entirely different continent.
Without being able to find a beach, I decided to brave it and just go swimming in the deep ocean. The tides are kind of intense, but if I go far enough into the water then I can avoid being pushed into the cliffs. The water is warm, as expected. I was able to bathe this way, and flew out of the water by Broom. I wasn't about to go into the water which lacked an escape route without my Broom. You don't bathe with your Broom? Strange...
After getting out of the water, I tried to air dry myself off by flying on my Broom naked. I flew as fast as I could until I simply could not maintain the speed. After around twenty minutes, I was more or less dry. I'm thankful that this area is remote. After returning to my clothes and Candy, I'm once again flying on my Broom. I'm slowly searching for a River to Fish in, while also keeping an eye out for monsters. This may be a fantasy world, but monsters don't seem that common. Not strong one,s anyway. I'm looking for juicy prey that will jump me several levels at once, okay? Those boar monsters don't seem like they'll do me any good. There are a lot of bird monsters around here though. They seem to fly in flocks and it's kind of frightening for myself who only has a ground monster to fight with, so I ignore and avoid them at all costs.
I get the feeling that if I were hit by an attack, I would probably die. My clothes from [Disguise] are of the worst quality possible, and my HP is a joke. Being cautious of flying monsters who can chase me is my only option, the way I see it. If things go bad, I can use [Barrier]. That's my only plausible trump card though. I need to save [This is Halloween] for a serious issue. Something catastrophe level. World magic with yearly cool downs can't be used for simple everyday issues. While thinking of my survivability, I found a River. It's a bit larger than the River near the Goblin Village, so I'm kind of excited to begin my hunt.
With newfound vigor, I snatched up any of the Fish I saw while making my way through the River. I'm glad that I wear sandals and shorts all the time. This way of living would be troublesome with pants always getting wet. After about 5 hours of Fishing, I managed to catch 23 Fish. There were 4 different kinds of Fish, and they're all brand new to me. 16 of them were smaller Fish, of a similar size and shape to the common Fish I always found near the Goblin Village. However, they were all a dark blue color. Their scales are honestly stunning. Two of them were striped red and white and were also smaller Fish, but with more plump shaped bodies. Four of them were green on the top but had an orange underside with medium sized bodies. The final Fish was special~ It was by far the largest of the Fish, and the scales changed colors depending on the angle that you looked at the Fish from. It was a range of bright pinks, blues, greens, and purples. Simply stunning.
After I finished stuffing all of the Fish into my lab coat, it was already dawn. I'm tired, but I know that I have no intention of returning to that Temple. I also have nowhere near enough MP to summon the [Wailing Keep]. I guess I have no choice. The Jungle in the Demon Kingdom has a feeling of uncertainty to it. You never know if something strong like the Crab might just run up on you. While setting off, I fly towards the small Mountain with the Chasm beneath it. It took me about 2 hours to reach the top of the Mountain. I'm spent at this point, and there's no way for me to stay awake. I've decided to lay out my lab coat atop this Mountain and rest. As far as I can tell, if there's dangers lurking in this Mountain, they're probably in the Chasm. The top of the Mountain should be safer, right? Yeah. [Daily Candy]. Goodnight~