Crimson moonlight descended from the sky as night fell, rendering the demonic forest eerily silent. Hidden inside a flurry of dark bushes, Mark looked in front of him with curious golden eyes.
He was famished at the moment and hadn't eaten much the whole day after arriving in the forest. He hadn't walked around recklessly either, but throughout the day, Mark had found his first target to test his powers on and also some valuable information.
He truly had been reborn into some hell full of demons. And this place was incredibly wild and chaotic—as expected of a hell. Everything was either hunting each other or eating the hunted.
For one, the demons around, unlike him, didn't have sentience. They were mindless creatures. He doubted that was true for all of them, though.
After all, the Demon he had met with the huge dark wings who called herself 'Mother' had been speaking in clearly fluent language.
Speaking fluently was a huge indication of sentience!
But that was not the case for any of the demons around, and all of them were non-sentient. Completely mindless.
Of course, not all of them looked humanoid like himself, either. Some were totally different. He had seen a half spider, half human earlier while in hiding, and he had also seen a half snake half humanoid one.
But even looking at them gave him the chills, so he didn't dare move out—they were too strong. His violet screen couldn't even read their stats.
Still, watching them, Mark had understood something important. They, too, were animalistic and mindless, and that was his advantage.
They were brutes, but he had a mind.
He could plot against all of them!
Just like the one in front of him, he could slowly but surely plot against them.
Mark looked out over a dark river that seemed to suck in the light around it. Right there on the bank, a woman, naked, with no clothes on, was bent over the water. Her skin was the color of a deep sunset, bright red, and she had a mess of gray hair tumbling over her shoulders. Two sharp, dark horns stuck out from her head.
She was drinking from the river, but not like a person would. She had her face right down in the water, slurping it up like a dog instead. Every so often, she'd snap her head up and look around, her wild eyes flicking from side to side as if she expected something to jump out from the bushes at her.
The whole thing was strange and wild, and Mark couldn't help but just stand there and watch. Although she looked like a monkey as she drank with her ass turned towards him, Mark couldn't help but think she was beautiful.
She was a mature woman with a buxom build, and looking at her completely naked body made him hot. Most of her allure was hidden behind mud and grime, but it was still visible to him.
It could have been due to the demonic attraction of being the same species or something similar, but he didn't care—he wanted her. From the first moment he looked at her, he had decided he wanted her.
Not only for his needs but also for survival. Even if he ignored her and let her go, she would just become some other mindless demon's food or worse. He could show her a much better path and life.
In return, she could help him too.
At least, that was his rationale for the moment.
She was stronger than him, but she was the weakest demon he had found in his whole day of searching.
Earlier, she had fought a large bear twice her size using fireballs released from her hands and she had lost before running away, and thus, she was currently exhausted.
That was why Mark followed her. This was an opportunity.
He checked her current stats.
_
[Flame Demoness]
[Tier 0—Demonling]
[Physique: 0.3/2.9]
[Mind: 0.1/2.9]
[Resistances: Fire Resistance (Low)].
[Bloodline: Flame Bloodline]
[Demonic Tricks: Soul Devourer, Fireball (Low), Fire Shield (Low), Delayed Explosion (Low).]
_
Indeed, she was exhausted.
It was the perfect time to gain a really cool companion!
To use Heart Input against her and for it to work, he would have to use more Mind power than her total available Mind stat. And if she were not exhausted, that would have been impossible, but since she was exhausted, he had a chance.
Now, she was exhausted, and her Mind stat was merely equal to his own.
He moved forward and used the Heart Input Demonic Trick when she was busy drinking the water.
"You will not—"
Just as he was about to use it, the demon woman's mental power began to replenish. Maybe because of the water she was drinking from the dark river.
[Flame Demoness]—[Mind: 0.2/2.9]
"Fuck," Mark cursed under his breath.
His Mind was just (0.1), and she now had more stat points than him.
Cursing his bad luck once more, he used the remaining (0.2) Soul Spheres on his Mind.
A cool sense of clarity appeared in his mind, and the familiar thrill of electricity meshing within him went up his head this time—his senses became even crisper.
His [Mind: 0.1] blurred and became [Mind: 0.3].
Demonic Trick—Heart Input.
"Shit!" he thought.
It didn't work.
He was too far from her!
Luckily, that only took 0.1 of his mind's power.
[Mind: 0.2/0.3]
Mark gritted his teeth softly, shuffled through the shrubs, and reached near her. He was not going to lose this golden chance!
From here, he could see her incredibly well-toned body, and he knew he would be manhandled in a fight.
He had been investigating her for the whole morning.
She was indeed similar to a monkey in mind, with low sentience and even lower mental capabilities. But if she saw him as a threat, she would retaliate and go ruthlessly for the kill.
As he closed in, her ears immediately perked up, and she suddenly turned and growled in his direction with immense wariness. Their gaze met, and her growl became even more threatening.
If he moved closer, she would attack.
But she was exhausted and wanted to drink the water too!
Mark was frozen on his spot.
"Grr!" Her fangs and dirt-ridden face looked at him warily, and she slowly circled around him. He knew she was preparing for an attack. He knew she had the Fireball ability—and he didn't want to eat a fist full of fire.
Even though he guessed she was too weak to use it anymore.
Mark growled and stood as tall as he could, but she was still taller than him. They were just one meter apart.
Demonic Trick—Heart Input!
This time, the ability clicked, and Mark felt as if he had briefly entered her chaotic mind. Her thoughts were all fuzzy and unclear, and he could only feel one prominent thought: survival.
Anything that helped her survival, she loved to do.
Maybe that was all there was to her thoughts.
Survival.
Mark had a deep feeling that if he said anything against that thought, his Trick would fail miserably.
He whispered into her mind.
"You are not looking at an enemy but a potential mate who could help you survive better. You can't harm him!"
No matter what world, since she had a sexual organ, she would need a mate at some point, and animals don't harm their mates—except a few breeds, and even they don't harm mates before mating.
His Mind stat plummeted down to zero, and he began to feel rather muddled, but at the same time, he knew it had worked—that the thought had been added to the Demoness' mind.
She circled him again, but there was another sort of look in her light red eyes.
Mark didn't think he would love using this on someone truly close to him. Not to a woman who might share a part of his life in particular. But for now, this was the best option for both of them.
"Uuurr…" she growled.
Mark took a deep breath and slowly moved closer to the black river with an eye on her. She didn't attack him, but she was still wary.
Maybe something else would have been a better suggestion, but he was wary about using something way too ridiculous that might bend her common sense.
Her mindset itself was based around survival, and since he saw how simple it was, a mate complemented her wish. With a mate, she could survive better.
Moving closer to the black river, he began drinking from it as she did earlier, in an animalistic way, and soon enough, she came beside him and drank the same way.
The sight of the red-skinned woman bending down and licking the water just an inch away from him was a visual treat.
She still looked around warily, but her wariness towards him was nearly nonexistent.
As Mark was finally relaxing, she suddenly nudged her head against his and licked his cheek. His heart was beating heavily, but he calmed down when she just kept licking and doing nothing else.
Feeling the nervousness leave him, he drank from the river and could feel his mental power being replenished at an absurd speed. Soon enough, it was replenished.
Mark turned and looked at her.
She was full of dirt and grime, and he was not much different.
He took some cool water from the river and began washing her.
She was startled and avoided the water, and when she saw him not relenting, she growled.
"Grr…"
Her dislike for water being splashed on her face was evident, and she tried to escape multiple times. Yet, soon enough, Mark got to see her fresh and cleaner self.
Oh damn, was she extremely gorgeous!
He had no words for this demonic beauty!
Grey white hair, red skin, and light red eyes. Horns that curved atop her head, a lean and well-cut body. And overall, she was cute to boot. Just that he would have preferred her to be shorter than him, but he didn't mind that in particular either.
Only after a while, when she irritably rolled on the ground and once again became dirty, did he shake his head with a smile.
She seemed to be instinctively using the dirt and grime as clothes.
Then, he squatted down and caressed her delicate head. He said, "Dona. From now on, you are… Dona. Dona Marcus."