[Mission Received!]
[Mission Details: Find and eliminate a Higher Demon Beast within the timeframe. Punishments for failure include Death, Death of New companions, Death of Sibling]
[Rewards: Skill- Shadow Sword, Shadow Grimoire, 200 SP]
Amari sucked in a large breath. The rewards were almost as large as the risks. A skill and a grimoire, then 200 SP. It was the first time he would be getting SP since obtaining the system, and he quite looked forward to seeing how it worked.
But before that.
"Hey, Lilia. What happens if you fail the exam?"
She paused, and a visible look of worry appeared amongst all the demons.
"Well, usually the punishment is death."
Amari's heart sank. It wasn't the system that was going to kill them. It was their bloody school!
"But we don't need to worry since you're here right!" She continued, beaming excitedly.
He didn't know whether to call the girl optimistic or stupid. And clearly, her kin felt the same way too.
Finding a Higher Demon Beast wasn't the issue with the mission. In fact, they were practically everywhere. The problem with that, though, was that they had to find one that was weaker and not in a clustered location.
A perfect example was the pack of Wind Wolves led by a Higher Demon Beast Alpha. If they dared to go against this kind of Higher Demon Beast, all the students and Amari himself would die without question.
'Fuck me!' Amari groaned inwardly.
The Beast they were going to kill was limited to a few criteria.
First of all, it had to be on the weaker end of the spectrum regarding Higher Demon Beasts. Monsters like lions, tigers, elephants etc would just seek death.
Secondly, it had to be a lonely or solitary beast. Creatures like wolves, certain insects and the like wouldn't do at all.
And thirdly, the most relevant requirement; to find a beast on the weaker end regarding speed.
Amari was fairly confident in dealing with creature defences. With all the students' help, they had a decent chance of killing a monster with high defence, low strength and low speed.
But then that begs the question: What kind of Higher Demon Beast would fit that absolutely biased criterion?
Amari had no idea. Reida and Felaud had some companions like that, but they were probably dead from forest invasions. Even if they were alive, he wouldn't even think of attacking them in the first place.
'About that. How did Lamart defeat Mom? He was stronger than me, but he definitely wasn't as strong as Mom just based on his stats. What kind of helper did he have or what treasure did he use? I'll have to observe all his items once more.'
The demons waited for him to stop thinking.
"Sooo, what are we gonna do Raion?" Lilia asked, leaning forward with a smile on her face.
Amari turned to her dazed. She was really cute. She was also close enough for her scent to fill his nostrils. Amari scrunched his nose a little. The perfume was something he'd never liked. Especially ones that were overly strong.
That didn't mean he couldn't appreciate her beauty though. Other than that, she wasn't really his type.
He took a step back, putting some space between them. "Ahem, it's still three days. Let us travel and hope to encounter a beast that falls into every category. In the meantime, we can get to know each other better."
In the end, that was still the most appropriate action to take. Amari was a bookworm but after all that had happened to him over the years, he wouldn't be so stupid as to do something impulsively just for the sake of living out his fantasies.
"Oh, by the way, Raion. What type of demon are you? I don't recognize any of your characteristics." Lilia asked politely before they started moving.
Amari cocked his head. That was something he wasn't really sure of, but it was mentioned in his status.
[Name: Amari Burrows, Raion'shalang]
[Race: Demon]
[Rank: Lesser Demon (Birth Rank) - Evolvable]
[Species: Variant Incubus- Verbum Daemonimum]
[Class: Wildman (Squire Rank), Orator(Observer Rank), Astrologer(Observer Rank)]
[Patrons: Borjak the Wild, Kaplen the Orator, Valen the Astrologer]
[Attributes]
[STR: 150]
[AGI: 160]
[STA: 120]
[INT: 200]
[Skills: Observation (Lvl 6), Basic Shadow Manipulation, Shadow Movement (Lvl 5), Dark Tendrils (Lvl 5), Words of Power (Lvl 1), Force Fist (Lvl 1), Rush (Lvl 1), Flash Step (Lvl 1), Star Reading (Lvl 1), Wayfaring (Lvl 1), Star Fist (Lvl 1), Star Energy Absorption (Lvl 1)]
[SP:0]
[MP: 400/400]
[Soul Bonds: Belat the Shadow Dweller Pup (Expand)]
[Titles: Child of the Beasts]
[Remark: Young demon abandoned in every sense of the word.]
"Uhm, I'm not really sure, but I think I'm a type of Incubus?" Amari replied, scratching his head a bit.
Under normal circumstances, he wouldn't have told anyone this piece of information, but Amari had a good opinion of her. Plus, he was trying to discover what demon he was.
"Um. I've heard of variants of Incubi, but I don't think I've heard of one with any of your physical features. I'll help you look into it when we get out of the Pit."
Amari nodded. After that, they were basically silent for the rest of the day, except for a few questions here and there.
He didn't mind though. He really enjoyed it like this.
"Well, it's sundown and we've not found anything yet. Do you think we'll make the deadline?" Lilia frowned, biting her lips a bit.
"Don't worry. If we don't find any beasts that fit those categories, we'll just take a risky bet and attack a random one." He waved off her concern with a light smile
After Amari's reassurance, she was no longer worried.
He was ready to pick a random tree to sleep on but suddenly remembered who he was with.
"Right, I was gonna ask. Do you guys have tents or anything like that?"
Not too long after he asked that a large tent popped out of nowhere. It looked substantial enough for a few of them but not really that spacious. Well, he felt that way until he stepped inside.
"What the hell?"
'They're literally living in a five-star hotel while in the pit!'
Lilia giggled. "I guess even you can be shocked."
Amari gulped silently and considered changing the favour he was going to ask for. This thing was too useful to ignore.
It was way wider than it looked from the outside, indicating some kind of less advanced spatial magic at work. Well, less advanced than spatial bracelets and rings.
"It's time to eat. What would you guys like?" A random demon asked. He seemed comfortable around Lilia and leaned towards her when talking to Amari, who later learned his name was Ken.
"Just cook anything."
"I don't mind anything either."
Ken quickly nodded and scurried away from them as fast as he could.
"Wait!" Amari called out, making the boy squirm. "Can you see what you can do with this flesh?"
A pungent smell engulfed the room. It reeked of the iron-like stench that came with blood. All the demons held grimace on their faces and some were even prepared to talk until they saw it was Amari.
"This is all Lesser Demon Beast meat?" Ken asked. He looked more excited than disturbed.
"Yeah, I killed them all before I met you guys."
"Great. That's great! Give me all the meat you got. I'll be able to make something special tonight!"
He looked grateful towards Amari then ran to the kitchen with a bunch of supplies.
"You don't understand what happened right?"
"Right."
"Well, you see, Ken is trying to be a chef of sorts. So whenever he gets ingredients that he feels are valuable, he is super excited. Up till now, no one was willing to give him Low Rank Demon Beasts to use as ingredients. This is simply because they're so valuable as materials for other things."
It was a simple explanation. Amari understood it. Everyone has their dreams and aspirations. Even that Fuller guy, although he was a dick.
'Hmm.'
Later, they ate. The smell of blood lingered, but nobody complained.