{Ding!
Awemeter increased to 92%
Congrats T for reaching the 90% mark!
All stats increased by +1!
Keep it up T}
Feral’s eyes opened groggily to the faint cackling sound of flames as he slowly sat up with a loud yawn while stretching his stiff body with his eyes still closed. His stretch was however soon interrupted when a sudden force slammed right to him knocking him down and successfully slapping the sleepiness of his body.
“P-paws wait!” Feral exclaimed helplessly at the excited dog who wouldn’t stop licking his face till it was full of slobber.
‘He must have been so worried… poor doggie,’ Dina thought pitifully as she patted his fur softly when she suddenly remembered the message she had just received! The Awemeter was now 92! She was only 8 percent away from being done?! Holy crap, didn’t that mean she would soon be…
‘Wait… Zero?’
“Yes, Dina?”
“Couldn’t even ask about my health could you?” Dina berated in annoyance.
“Fret not Dina, I can guarantee you 100% of your safety as long as I am here.”
Dina was stifled at this and after a bit of sulking directly asked the question she wanted to ask—
“How exactly do I leave after completing my mission?”
“By dying.”
“Holy shi— okay but can I decide to stay when am done?”
“Am afraid your level is too low for that Dina.”
“So… I’ll be leaving them once the mission is over, at any time?”
“Yes.”
“I see,” Dina answered stiffly.
She couldn’t define the reason why this strange feeling of anxiety curled up in her stomach making her feel a bit queasy but she did know that she wasn’t yet ready to leave, not yet, just not yet!
“How are you feeling?” Genad’s voice rumbled under the dark night as his steady figure approached, snapping Feral out of his dazed state as a pair of brilliant golden pupils that stroke a match with the male's outfit glowed conspicuously under the dark.
‘What the…?’
It took Feral a whole minute to recognize this figure before him and before he could ponder if this was the real Genad, the sudden closeup visage of the male threw him off guard.
“Agh! Master!” Feral gasped loudly earning a slight chuckle from Genad which stunned both Paws and Feral.
Paws seemed to be even more stunned than Feral and had his mouth hanging open with drool trickling down from his mouth to his jaw. Feral thought it was quite cute and completely understood his stun as he too could reflect his shock.
“Calm down. How are you feeling?” Genad said in an oddly gentle voice which left goosebumps all over his two partners.
“Ah… yes,” Feral answered subconsciously shuffling backward, away from this strange Genad… damn, the bastard was getting weirder every day! However, due to the closeup, he soon noticed that Genad still had his demonic hair but somehow now possessed angelic eyes. This explained why his body which had felt so heavy had completely healed up!
‘It couldn’t be….’
“You don’t have to be so startled I won’t eat you up,” seeing Genad’s abnormal gentle yet flirty behavior Feral could finally piece everything together.
“Master! Did you learn to control your angel bloodline?!”
Genad was shaken up a bit and his entire actions froze. Leaning away from the frenzied duo and after a bit of ‘brooding’ which was him simply mumbling some strange things under his breath he finally answered the multi-million question.
“Quite right Feral.”
***
After a day more of rest, the trio set off to find a good living spot for their training and remaining preparations, Paws being of great help with his nature as over the days he seemed to have become a freaking master developing the ability to now slip into any form he wanted anytime.
Even being an angel was now easier for him and finally, all his practice was paying off.
Genad was a step ahead in finding an arena and apparently, he had already picked up a place but due to the living conditions, they had to find a subsidiary to meet their basic needs at the very least.
It was a place around the Deadman land which meant they had to cross through the Land of Babel awakening some bad memories for Feral who eventually spilled to Genad what happened after some pressure.
Unlike the degradation he had expected, Genad actually played it off with him simply being inexperienced and he found out firsthand what he meant. It was so much easier crossing the land of Babel with Genad beside them, his transformation, attitude, and everything made everything so easy that Dina felt like she was floating on air when they easily stride through the land of Babel.
In the end, all he and Paws had to do was mascot work, to literally just exist while Genad took care of everything.
It finally clicked on Dina why Genad was seamlessly able to cross through many realms without being caught. It wasn’t just transformation, both his values, attitudes, and everything were simultaneously changed as well, like an ancient chameleon who had mastered the art of camouflage.
It wasn’t about looks, it was about attitude, how good one was at manipulating their persona to adapt to the fake identity taken. That was why she failed woefully in this art of camouflage.
After successfully crossing the land of Babel, they finally landed in the Deadman land.
Just as normal, it was filled with rotting, death, and deathlessness all at once.
The Deadman land was the strangest and most dangerous of the demon realm which explained why all demons interested in crossing the portal came for training there. All demons ready for battle were trained in the Deadman land due to its deathly nature.
At normal daylight, the monsters and undeads were few and manageable but during the night… chaos ensued.
Every night within the Deadman land was known as the night of the dead, with hordes of undead creatures piling up to attack any living soul they could sense, and with their sensitivity, they were impeccable to the extent that they could sense even a living soul miles away.
The undead weren’t natural creatures, they were dead demons corroded by the rotting energy of the Deadman land turning them into the undead. It was common knowledge that the ultimate revenge one could dish out to their enemy was to throw them into the deadman land and turn them into undead thus giving them a ruthless fate of unending despair even after death. A deathless life without rest for all eternity until complete destruction.
The deadmen which were the living demons residing in the Deadman land were the vampires, ghouls, witches, werewolves, and other creatures of the night. The deadmen were the most varied set of demons within the demon realm and the most dangerous due to how varied their abilities were as well.
As for the undead, they were divided into three stages: Deathness, Deathless, and Deathlessness.
Deathness was the stage of recently converted undead, Deathless was the stage where ones who eventually evolved after consuming living souls or roamed long enough to absorb a vile amount of rotting energy to evolve, and finally was Deathlessness which was gotten by undead who had lived for millenniums while consuming souls.
Only people with abilities as high as the kings or crazy dark horses like Genad could defeat such monsters which was why they were confident enough to be here in the first place.
Such high-leveled undead were barely seen due to frequent taming from time to time by the Deadman Lord as if such a monster was left free the consequences would be beyond disastrous.
…and now they were in an area with at least three monsters of deathlessness.
The Deadman land had so many barren lands deserted due to being filled with rotting energy thus possessing a natural magnetization for undead creatures, and being unable to support life either.
And their arena for battle was one of those lands.
‘Which had me wondering how he knows so much intel…’ Dina pondered.
They had arrived at their living area which was the only place in the arena with little to no rotting energy and guaranteed a tiny bit of protection from the undead.
Genad was lecturing them on power levels which Dina was quite stunned to find out actually existed until she was thoroughly disappointed once again.
Apparently, there wasn’t yet a distinct method to tell the level of one’s powers due to how varied the abilities of each race were, and although each race had their power level Genad insisted it was trash due to the unnecessary metrics added.
“Why would I have to care about someone’s potential, ability which they had never used, or bloodline with nearly zero possibility of awakening? All races have their shortcomings in their power levels due to various unnecessary details written into it which is why I will give you an easier way to tell a person’s level easily.”
After hyping up for half a day to know the supposedly cool method to tell a person’s level, Feral was tossed an artifact.
“This is an artifact created by my father, the simplest way to tell a person’s ability is through their aura. But your strength will have to be to a certain extent to tell these details which is why you’ll be needing this more than us.”
“So it all boils down to strength master?” Feral asked disappointedly as he clipped on the strange collar which instantly fitted his neck. “But how does this work?”
“Yes, it does boil down to strength. To use it you just have to channel your mental energy to activate it and the trigger is eye contact or direct contact no matter how slight,” Genad explained.
“….will I not be dead by then since I’d probably be decapitated before even daring that if their strength and temper are like yours, master?” Feral asked uncertainly and seeing the helpless look on Genad which screamed ‘true-but-its-better-than-nothing’ he simply decided not to pursue it.
After learning the power levels of Genad and Paws and just how much stronger they were Dina knew she had to at least up her game!
The power level of the item was divided from 1 to 1000 with two meters. Genad was about 358 435, Paws was around 415 350, which showed raw ability and battle capacity respectively.
Dina actually found the gap Paws gave Genad in terms of strength shocking but after deliberating a bit found it sensible because, unlike Paws who was a living legend, Genad was but a simple demon who just happened to be freaking strong.
And although Paws had greater powers, due to being locked up for so long his mentality had eh…. Degraded or he wouldn’t be in the situation he was in right now, mascoting for them. Coupled with how many items and weapons Genad used not to mention his intelligence it made sense he could beat Paws even though he was stronger.
Although it had its flaws one feature Dina loved of the device was its ability to give the strength in the instant one was and not of what one would become which meant it measured even the increase in a person’s powers as well.
As for Feral… his strength was around 145 189. It wasn’t actually bad considering the average strength was around 150 180… eh… but the difference between him and the duo was so damn much!
The average value for a human to be considered a warrior at the least was 150 180, for the elves 200 250, for the demons and angels 250 280, and for the gnomes 115 300.
The difference between the other races didn’t mean any was weaker it just showed the expectations each race bore for themselves which made sense for demons and angels to be of the same caliber considering they were sworn enemies who always needed to keep each other in check.
The gnomes however odd were understandable since although their raw strength had always been the lowest their creativity and power of creation was something to be dreaded so much that in their thriving years, it kept all freaking races in check, something even the angels couldn’t achieve to this day.
Dina suspected that Edward created two meters specifically for the gnomes. After all, it had always been an issue since ancient days how to tell the strength of a gnome mostly because they may look weak but by the time they whipped out an incredible creation it would be a total wipeout.
This mysteriousness of the gnomes had been their strongest point that led them to many victories throughout the years across history and Edward actually conquered it… it was no wonder the races found him as a threat.
He truly was a deadly threat that could have done insane things if left, pity the demon realm was so stupid they actually wasted away such a valuable treasure.
“Master, your father was a great man,” Feral couldn’t help but praise in fascination when he saw his power levels increase after dueling with Paws. It was so easy to tell your progress! Something like this really motivated a person!
Genad was silent for a while as he continued peeling the fruits they had acquired for dinner making Feral nervous at the thought that he had perhaps crossed a line he shouldn’t.
However, seconds later, Genad simply handed him a fruit after tossing Paws one and after a bite replied softly—
“Hm, he was.”
‘Phew!’
“Want some more?”
“Yes please!”
"Then come and get it."
Genad smirked mischievously while placing the fruit into his mouth, his teeth wedging it in a way that half was in his mouth and the other half stuck outside emitting a sensual feel that got Feral blushing.
With a face flushed red, the elf replied with a ‘no thanks’ and dashed away to Paws with Dina cringing at every step. She was a bit grateful in such situations where Feral stepped in or she wouldn’t help but show a side to her that wasn’t really… innocent.
‘I would have so taken that offer if I didn’t momentarily lose control.’
“I see.”
‘I generally don’t like kissing people except for ones I date of course but I’ll make exceptions for hotties like him.’
“Yes.”
“Ugh, you’re no fun.”
The rest of the days passed with the trio increasing their strength. Every morning after hygiene was breakfast and then was a routine exercise that focused on increasing various aspects of their fitness lasting from the rest of the morning to noon. After lunch and rest, there was a brutal duel session that went on to the evening before dinner and finally was the hardest aspect of their training which happened during the nights— battles with the undead.
This training session continued for a couple of months and soon enough the arrival of the portal was near.