"I can't believe this," Catherine muttered as the magic contract was set up in flames.
"I'm sorry I guess," I shrugged.
A well-known trait of Catherine was that she couldn't handle it whenever her plans didn't go as she wanted. She never makes a back-up plan and breaks down when she fails.
Which she was doing right now.
"I can't believe this..." she was whispering to herself, and it seemed like my existence wasn't needed here at the moment.
I slowly got up and backed away from her. Once I was out, I began what I was planning to do before she interrupted me. I headed towards the mine. Catherine will definitely be out of it for a while, and she didn't even bring any guards, so I was certain that nobody would disturb me.
The entrance of the mineshaft wasn't what I expected, probably because the system fixed my initial design. It looked like a railroad tunnel that led down to the mine itself. Then there was the strange energy coming out of the tunnel.
"Can I use "Curse devourer" from up here?"
It was obviously dangerous to go in there alone without Revenant, so I was hesitant.
[No]
There was a great risk, and I wasn't sure if I would be fast enough to escape even if I used Aura rush. But greed was starting to cloud my judgement and I began heading in anyway.
After about five minutes of walking and the system informed me of good news.
[Curse devourer is usable]
I wasted no time and activated the gift. "Gah!" I suddenly felt my chest tighten. Too much Aether was being absorbed by my gift and my body was having trouble converting it to Aura. "A little help?"
[The cursed mine will be converted into an ego]
[Requirement: One of each type of ore found in the mine]
[Requirements met]
[Ego conversion starting]
[Name your new ego]
"Shit! Uh... Golem," I said through gritted teeth.
[Ego: Golem has been created]
[Aether gathered will be transferred to Golem]
I was beginning to lose consciousness as the panels kept appearing. The last thing I saw was the floor of mine beginning to move.
[Golem has ascended to Rank 5 level 5]
------
Aila was born from a commoner background, so she really didn't have high hopes that people would care about her. She knew that the students approaching and asking her to join their group only did that because she looked very useful to Raveil Gray.
None of them knew that everything she did in that dungeon was instructed to her by Raveil. She knew she wouldn't have accomplished anything if she was alone. Even the people in the village advised her to just find a decent man in the school and be a concubine.
A sad reality, but she knew most commoners don't actually become independent after leaving the academy. At best, they will reach rank 5 or 6 and work under a noble. The magic tower was also an option for her, but that would also require a letter of recommendation from a noble.
Everything revolved around the nobles.
"Ms. Aila."
Aila jumped in surprise and looked behind her to find a dark-skinned woman wearing a maid outfit.
"Y-yes?"
Aila could feel magic power from the woman in front of her, but it was different from mana.
"My master invites you to his home."
Aila began to get even more nervous. "Y-your master?"
"Yes, master Raveil extends an invitation to you."
"Ah," Aila blushed.
------
"Fucking hell."
I groaned as I tried to get up from the floor. The white shirt I changed into earlier was covered in dirt again, and some weird sludge was scattered all over my body, and it smelled foul.
"What the hell is this?"
It smelled worse than shit.
[You have ascended to Rank 3 level 8]
"Huh?" My eyes widened at the panel. "Just how much Aether was in that curse?"
I was very confused since the curse on the mineshaft wasn't even a powerful one. It was a simple corruption curse similar to the corrupted forest.
"An explanation would be nice."
[Low grade corruption curse has been devoured]
[Size of the target was the cause of the large amount of Aether obtained]
"Oh, I guess that would make sense."
Back at the corrupted forest, I only did it one tree at a time. But compared to a single tree, the whole mineshaft was a different story all together.
As I was in the middle pondering everything, something tapped my shoulder. In all honesty, I should have been more surprised, but the moment I turned around and saw a living pile of rocks, all I could say was... "Hey..."
"I greet my lord," the yellow crystal on its... head? Glowed as it spoke.
"You can talk..."
"Yes, my lord."
[All ego upon reaching rank 5 will gain the ability to converse]
"And Revenant?"
[Revenant has already crossed the thresh hold]
"Hmm." That also reminded me that I needed to return to the savage angel dungeon in order to retrieve Revenant. And it also just so happened that the first year's first expedition was in two days.
Apparently, I had made a mistake in calculating when certain events will take place. In the novel, the first expedition looked like it happened early in the school year. Then I received the actual schedules and major events would not happen anytime soon at all.
"Makes me wonder how long chapters would actually be if they relayed every single day."
I turned to Golem.
"How long have I been here?"
"Around an hour my lord."
"Damn... It only took an hour to skip a whole rank ascension. I could picture the whole kingdom going crazy if they found out."
Looking over Golem, he looked no different from a pile of rocks with a glowing crystal as a face. Eye of analysis wasn't working as well, which meant that what was in front of me wasn't the main body. Deciding to look down, the information was displayed for me.
******
Golem – Rank 5 level 5
Terra type
Companion
Mine
Produces any mineral found in the mineshaft
Construct
Reform the interior of the mineshaft
Relocate
Move
******
"I don't know if you're trying to insult me or just trying to simplify things for me."
[Whatever helps you sleep at night]
My eyes twitched.
------
Demons were a proud race by nature. In terms of physical abilities, demons were at the top. They were as strong as giants, as fast as elves, and as adaptive as humans. Without training, Velris ascended to Rank 2 level 3, something no other race can do. Demons got stronger just by living.
With all that said, a demon serving as the maid of a human was unheard of. But Velris knew that serving a man that did not hesitate to save her despite her race was the right thing to do. And she will never regret it.
Velris hummed to herself.
"Ms. Velris, why are we heading to the border of the capital?"
Aila, the human girl that her master had invited to his home asked. Both of them were riding a carriage with all of her master's belongings and taking them to his new home. And since she did not want to waste her master's money to take a separate carriage, it was quite cramped.
"Master's home is located outside the capital Lady Aila."
The human girl nodded, then began fidgeting. "Ms. Velris, are you... human?"
"No," Velris simply answered. "I'm a demon."
Velris noticed Aila flinched, and the carriage driver began coughing hysterically. "B-but why do you call Raveil m-master?"
Velris unbuttoned the first button of her uniform and showed a mark. "This is proof of my contract with my master."
"H-has lord Raveil..." Velris tilted her head, waiting for what Aila was going to ask. "H-has he... your body?"
Velris understood what the human girl was trying to say. "No, but it would not be unwelcomed."
Despite her answer, Velris blushed.