The days following the meeting with the other summons were much more open to Azemo. He would still train with Zaebos and learn from Master but those activities only took up the morning. The rest of the day Azemo was free to do as he pleased and he liked spending it practicing magycka and exploring the forest around the stronghold.
Zaebos had never let him explore before because the forest was home to many monsters. While monsters were technically part of the demon army they attacked anyone who entered their territory. Monsters would usually follow a demon commanders orders but they were still wild creatures. Now Zaebos was more confident in Azemo so he was allowed to explore but he still could not leave the forest. Zaebos didn't give a reason but Azemo felt the severity of the situation so he respected the rule.
Azemo tossed the dagger into the air, it vanished leaving behind a phantom and was in his hand again. Azemo's control of his magycka was getting better each day and this dagger trick was something he did when he was bored.
At first the forest had seemed so exciting, plants he had never seen before, odd animals and even random magic. But Azemo had not found a single monster. 'I thought this place was dangerous.' Azemo wanted to see if monsters dropped loot, 'this is a fantasy world after all.'
On the first day not a single monster was found and Azemo returned to bed with hopes for the next day. Unbeknownst to Azemo monsters were avoiding him. The demon forest held many dangerous beasts but they relied on instinct and stayed away from Azemo's dangerous aura. Of course really dangerous monsters wouldn't care, but they roamed near the outskirts of the forest.
When Azemo woke up he decided that he would spend the night in the forest. He didn't really have a reason but he thought it would be fun. He devoured his breakfast and asked for the rest of the day's food. Agnes brought him the food and Azemo stored it in the bag Zaebos had given him. The storage had some kind of magic that froze time for the stored items. Azemo had a large stockpile of food in storage because he often took leftovers even when he was not hungry and wasting food was too great a sin for a demon.
The forest this day, was quieter than the day before but after lunch Azemo headed to an unexplored section. He followed the silence moving away from birds chirping or branches rustling because something seemed to drive him that way. As he walked the only sound his sensitive demon ears could pick up was the crunch of his boots in the leaves. The silence was stifling. To distract himself from the deafening quiet Azemo decided to experiment with mana. Master had said that everyone had their own unique mana and that mana could be used to create harmful affects in others mana seas.
In his hand he had a small sapling that he was infusing with his mana. At first nothing happened but after a few seconds the sapling shriveled and died. After a few more experiments Azemo discovered that he could send a thin stream of his mana that would corrode the plants mana source and destroy it from the inside. The time it took varied, but if the plant was larger or more healthy it usually took longer.
Azemo got better and better as he continued to walk in the forest and suddenly his tome reacted. Blood seeped out of the pages and it heated up. Azemo took it from its holster and it opened by itself to the skills page. A new skill had appeared.
Degrade, uncommon level skill. User sends their mana to attack the target living creature, eventually killing them over time. Larger beings take longer and require more mana. A note was beneath the spell that basically said that since Azemo created the spell he could use it when the tome was closed but it would be more potent when the tome was open.
'A new skill!' Azemo didn't realize he could make skills and tried again and again to make more as he continued on his trek. But it was not that easy. Azemo tried countless things with his mana but his tome did not react. Eventually Azemo realized he would need to have a goal in mind and he quickly made one. He didn't want to have to hold the tome when it was open, because that would be a big hassle. After all Cadence trained without her tome because she didn't want to lose a hand just to hold a book.
First Azemo tried to harden his mana but that required too much control. Next he tried to continually teleport his book in the air but he needed to keep touching the book to be able to teleport it. He was able to keep the book frozen in the air if he was barely touching it and was using continual micro teleports but that was impractical. He continued to try and force his mana to his will and then finally tried to connect the two ideas. Apparently this worked because the tome reacted even though he had not actually succeeded he had provided a plan that the book was able to make into a skill.
Hover, unique skill. 'Unique!' Azemo was head over heels that was by far the highest rarity he had. 'This must be a super powerful spell.' The rarity blinded him from reality for a second but the description brought him back to earth. User can make an item that the user is extremely familiar with, float, and move around. A constant supply of mana is required to keep the skill active.
As Azemo was celebrating his new skill he bumped into a large rock. "Curse you devil rock I shall send you to meet your maker." But before Azemo attacked it he noticed an opening. 'Exploration time.'
Azemo put some rocks into storage and crept through the hole. Inside was treasure, lots of treasure in a big pile. Some of the treasure did not seem valuable but other parts of it had the gleam of riches.
Azemo was immediately wary, no one just leaves treasure around, and as he looked past the treasure he noticed something. In the corner of the cave there was a massive form, seemingly in a deep sleep.
Azemo had wanted to test himself but this creature seemed super dangerous so he started to back out. 'Wait. I might as well.' Azemo turned around and made his way towards the creature.
It was around the size of a bear but had the body of a big lizard. Azemo immediately thought of a dragon but this creature was not nearly as impressive and had no wings. The beast's head reminded Azemo of a crocodile with a short snout; the only difference was that it had massive nostrils. 'Might as well block the nose.' Azemo laughed and did this because he thought it would be funny.
He activated his bracelets and left a small bit of the green energy blocking each nostril. Azemo had learned that the weapon could leave small pieces of itself behind if he wanted it too. The first time this happened was in an accident in a duel with Benthar. Azemo had changed the shape of the weapon and tried to throw it at Benthar and it actually worked. However Azemo had deactivated the weapon before it hit Benthar out of excitement. His reward for "mercy" was the side of Benthar's axe to his face.
Back in the present Azemo activated another spell as the creature woke up because some little creature had blocked off its nose.
"You will regret that you mongrel" the creature growled. It might have been intimidating but it's voice was nasally thanks to the nose plugs. Azemo couldn't help but laugh as the creature threatened him.
With that a fight broke out.