Then another day came when Lucas had to hold a lecture about demon races and the class was full, as usual. Lucas said his hellos and started the class.
He started with "Let's spend today to learn about little less known demon races called somnum and knass. Let's start with somnums and their noble variant of the Inertia family. Now what to say about somnums? Generally speaking they don't do much else but exist. They have almost zero ambitions and almost zero care for the world. The little they do do is order other demons around, as somnums are highly intelligent demons. Their intellect is even superior to elves, meaning that their understanding of things is far more far reaching. If they had great ambitions, they would have been able to rule the world long ago."
Elliot asks "What did they do to earn the demon lord bloodline?" Lucas says "Demon lord bloodlines weren't earned. They were given. As demon lord bloodlines were created from the essence of a demon god, their place in this world was purely given to them with a silver spoon. But as I said, somnums did spend their time ordering others around as they pleased, which made them good schemers. Most of their plots revolved around a simple thing. "How can I find the best way for me to do absolutely nothing but still be able to live?""
Noah says "Isn't that the basic wish for all races?" Lucas says "You would be correct on most people, but to somnums, this was something that they spent most of their thinking on when they weren't sleeping or relaxing. They would make many complex orders to their subordinates in case there was a scenario that would require the attention of the somnum. They thought of many scenarios beforehand and would use their natural telekinesis to write it down and then give the complex set of orders to the subordinates which contains many "If x happens, do this and this" and so on. All in order for them to do as little as possible and sleep. You could say that their sole ambition is sleep."
Then Lucas pauses for a moment before continuing. "Now that we know what their most common personality is like, let's get to the topic about their other traits. Somnums are usually pure white haired and pale skinned. The males average around 140cm and females average around 150cm. They also often have an eye color from silver, blue silver, light green or light blue. Their ears have a similar pointy feature with elves, but they have three separate points in each ear, making them look like they almost have three ears as well. Somnum also can live for a month without eating anything. And when they do eat, they don't eat that much at all. Somnums are also mostly vegetarian, but some eat meat as well.
As I said, they have the natural ability to use telekinesis, but they also have the natural ability to fly and hover without any motion. They have a special organ that allows them to do that. And if removed or damaged, they will lose the ability to fly freely. They actually prefer to sleep while hovering in the air. They will usually only go down when the situation demands it. For example, they would eat while floating, but since it is similar to if others stood and ate, which is considered bad manners, they just sit and eat like the rest of us.
On top of those two abilities, they also have the natural ability of clairvoyance. That makes them see some faint parts about the future and also makes them able to see things happen from far distances similar to using "Scry" skill. But overall, they were pretty weak.
Somnums can technically live forever, as it has been proven by the first somnum that was born from the demon god Lowell. His name was Archibald Inertia and he still lived in the time when Legul and I lived. He had been there to watch all the demon kings rise and fall, but as far as I know, he is either dead or hiding right now. He never did become a demon king, as there has neither been a single demon king from the Inertia bloodline since the title of a demon king has existed. The closest that ever was was Legul's wife. Similarly to Legul, I also had a somnum wife."
Lucas breathes in deeply and then starts to speak "My wife, Sylviana Ilona Inertia. Ahh… Such a beautiful woman. Even if she almost never showed expressions, the moments when she did show them were the most adorable things ever. Getting to see her smile always made my day. And sometimes when I saw her annoyed face, I got lost in my mind. And her pouting face. Oh the pouting face! That was also the most adorable thing to witness. If only the words could describe the feelings that I have for her. When she wanted to cuddle, that was the most satisfying thing in my life. I would wage war if it meant I could spend my lovely time with her. Ahh…"
The class just sat in silence and watched this man brag about his wife. Lucas continues "And you know what the best part of having a somnum partner? They spend most of their time sleeping. And if they stay up so that they can greet you when you get home, Oh my god, there is no sweeter feeling to come back home to. To go to sleep together while snuggling together in a bed that somnums don't usually do, was the most sweetest of moments in my life. Oh I can't choose which of her traits are the best."
Class continued to listen to this lovestruck teacher to ramble. Lucas said "Oh how I miss your sweet, sweet touch again Sylvi. Oh how I miss you…" A moment of silence goes by and Lucas has a face of a man that just realized something. He says "Why haven't you contacted me yet Sylvi?! I know that your clairvoyance ability is off the charts to the point you could evade any danger that would come to you. I just know that you are watching me ramble about you at this very moment, yet you stay silent. And I know that you are hiding somewhere in this wretched world for some reason. I know you wouldn't die that easily. Are you telling me to come and search for you?! Without any clues?! I know you enjoy watching from a distance as I make mistakes here and there, but that is too far! I know that you didn't like it when I didn't tell you where I went to sleep, but we both know that you didn't miss the opportunity to follow my every step. You know where I went, so don't try to hide it! Please just contact me. I miss you very much… Or perhaps… or perhaps you have found another man and have abandoned me."
A silence filled the room. The man was now in despair. Then he started to roll on the ground and shout "I want to see you! I want to see you! I want to see you!" The classroom full of people just watched as the man was acting like a child.
A while passed before Lucas calmed down. Then he rose up, cleared his throat and said "Anyways, moving on! So the next demon race in the agenda is knass. What can I tell you all about knass. Like more human-like goblins that still yearn for shiny things, but mostly gold. Their long noses, long pointy ears and brownish skin made them look like advanced goblins. They were around 130 to 140 cm tall in general. They tended to have piss yellow eyes and they wore as fancy outfits as they could find. They were greedy creatures that were smart enough to trick people but still stupid enough to be tricked themselves. They were the race that was most in contact with everything outside of demon territory. They had even built businesses both in and outside of the demon territory."
Then a student says "I heard that there still is a business run by knass. I believe the business' name was "Golden barrel'' or something like that." Another student says "Yeah, I have heard of that too." Lucas then smiled and said "So those brothers managed to build a lasting business after all."
Then Lucas starts to wonder about something and asks "Does there still exist a business called "Golden road initiative"?" Students look around and wonder if anyone has heard of it after all. Then Lucas concludes "So you don't know? That's some great news. That bastard wanted to make a business in his name that would last centuries, but now no one even knows his business' name. That is good news indeed."
Then a student asked "What was the golden road initiative?" Lucas says "It was a business built by a greedy bastard that pulled all sorts of tricks to earn massive amounts of gold. He belonged to the Avar family, which made him rich from the get go, but he never could be satisfied. I don't even want to say his name out loud. That's how much the thought of him sickens me. And if he is generally forgotten in the current era, then all the better."
Then there is a small pause and after a moment Lucas starts speaking again. "Let's get to the abilities and skills of knass. As said earlier, they are generally known to be greedy creatures who yearn for gold. They have a natural skill called "Golden touch" which makes them good with machines of all sorts. I don't know how knasses hold out in the current era, but I doubt that they have much trouble handling menial things such as fixing a few devices or creating something from scratch. The "golden touch" skill also makes people see their handiwork as more refined than if someone who doesn't have that skill would make it.
The next inborn skill they have is "Luck of gold" which makes them likely to find more valuable things than those who don't have the skill. As far as I understand it, it generally makes the owner of the skill make decisions out of instinct that might lead them to valuable stuff. So if you go mining or hunting together with knass, be sure to let the knass guide you, as their instinct makes them likely to find valuable stuff. The skill "Luck of gold" also makes them generally more lucky with things more so than others who don't own the skill. That also makes them be able to go through a trapped area without activating a single one. Note that it is still luck that makes them able to avoid danger, so they aren't immune to bad things happening to them.
Then there is the skill "Mercantile" which makes them able to make more profitable deals than others who don't have it. This skill is something that everyone can acquire if they train hard enough, but knass have the aptitude to get this skill much easier than other races. Needless to say, if you have someone who has this skill on them, be sure to let them handle any talks about transactions.
In terms of combat, they are known to be quite fast creatures. Their small frame usually makes them able to slip under your nose and attack. That said, they aren't physically strong and they don't have a high aptitude with magic. The class they tend to focus on is rogue, scout or any of the sly sort. But this is all assuming that they try to go for combat focused life. They generally didn't want to risk their lives, but there were knasses that looked for treasure on an adventure. And I also have met a few knass mages that could easily beat a human mage in combat."
A student asked "You didn't say anything about somnums skills other than being able to fly, use telekinesis and clairvoyance." Lucas says "Ah yes. I went on a rant and moved on when I wandered to the topic of my wife. Right right, let's get some things out there. Speaking of somnums, they often employed knasses to work for them. But back to the topic.
Somnums have a natural aptitude for magic and sorcery, though they don't like to study outside of their interests. They are very good at gravitational magic and I have heard of a somnum mage who could make a miniature black hole or something, which sucked everything in its path. Apparently it was dangerous, since it couldn't be used in an open battlefield for the risk of it consuming your allies.
And in case some of you don't know what the difference in skills and abilities are when I talked about the somnums natural abilities to fly, use telekinesis and use clairvoyance, let me explain. Skills are something that you can acquire and they are binded to your soul. So even if your soul would find itself in another body, the skills you had before would still be with you. Abilities on the other hand are things that you will acquire to your current body. So if your soul were in another body, you wouldn't have the abilities that you had in your previous body. To summarize, skills are bound to your soul whereas abilities are bound to your body. Abilities also often feel more natural to the user than skills do. And just in case you are confused, when I speak about abilities now, I mean the abilities that also show in your status card. Abilities outside of the status card can absolutely carry over if your soul is transferred to another body. Those types of abilities are gained through knowledge and training that will stay in your mind as long as you still exist.
Back to the topic. How should you prepare to fight somnums? Well, the easiest way of dealing with them is to fill the whole room with flour and they will suffocate. They have much more sensitive breathing organs than other humanoids and if there is a thick cloud of flour, they will just suffocate. And if you don't have flour in hand or you are in an open space, try to use fire. Their skin doesn't handle heat and dry air very well, so using fire will work wonders. That doesn't mean that they fancy cold either.
So basically somnums are more sensitive to every aspect of life. Their sense of smell is great. Their sense of touch is great. Their sense of taste is great. I think you get the picture.
On a side note, somnums smells mostly sweet or pleasant. And this isn't only coming from a man who adored his wife who bathed. No, it is a fact that they smell mostly sweet. You have to trust me on this."
Hannibal then asks "If somnums are so sensitive, do they feel more pleasure when having sex?" People were shocked to hear that question, but Lucas calmly said "They do, but remember, they are generally lazy creatures. That means that more often than not they will decline intercourse no matter who you are." Hannibal then asks "How was your sex life?" Lucas says "I was mostly lucky. The fact that my wife became quite a snuggler made things easier to evolve from there. Though mostly it stayed at snuggling. Though there were times when…
Enough about that, let's continue on the topic of defeating somnums. They were often guarded by their servants, so if you go hunting for one, be sure to handle, at the very least, a small group of opponents. That means having a group with you is also a good tactic.
Now let's leave somnums be for now and go to knasses. As I said, they are quick little buggers, so be sure to stay sharp when dealing with them. But if you have the luxury to do so, try paying them with something shiny and/or valuable. They might lower their guard when you do so, but remember that they can act quickly if they sense danger. So keep killing intent to yourself. And if you don't want to fight them, just negotiate with them and be ready to pay them.
Now this about does it for this class. If you have any questions, feel free to ask any questions. As long as the classroom is allocated to us, I will answer your questions. Leave any questions about succubuses and gargoyles to the next time, as I will go over them extensively. The books that I have given to you all should also answer some of the questions so please feel free to read them during the allocated time in this classroom. If you don't have any questions and you don't want to study, then you may leave.
Some left while some chose to study. The teachers went and asked Lucas about a few specific things that interested them. Professor Hansel pointed out that Lucas and Legul were quite similar as far as they have heard.