Point of View of Drake Helkhar
"Watch out, Zoe! There are two hidden to your left!" I shouted with great force, as I noticed several monsters hiding among the bushes and trees, waiting for the perfect moment to attack.
"Yes! I already know!" Zoe replied before throwing several ice blades, which, due to their speed and power, easily penetrated the tough skin of the monsters that looked like a strange combination of a bear and a snake.
Once she finished them all off, I focused again on my opponent, who had managed to recover after the cut I had made to one of its front legs.
Excellent, with those out of the way, I don't have to worry about the rear anymore. I thought, before making an elegant leap with my legs to dodge my opponent's claws. Compared to the attacks Zoe usually throws at me, you're really slow.
Confident in my speed, I managed to change the direction of my leap to position myself above the monster, and with a quick stab after gathering mana into my sword, I slit its throat, causing some of its blood to splatter onto my forearm.
No! I got dirty again. I reproached myself. "Are you okay, Drake?" Zoe asked after coming closer to where I was. "No, I'm not okay." I shared, with a bit of frustration in my tone. "I thought the monsters here would be a real challenge, but they aren't much different from the ones near home."
"Well, that's because we're still in the forest near the city." She responded, giving me a light slap on the back. "So don't complain and keep walking." "Ouch, that's not fair." I complained, annoyed, before keeping up with her.
After walking for a few more minutes, we decided to head back home since we didn't find any more monsters.
"Even though we walked for a long time, we didn't find anything else, what a disappointment." I commented, just to avoid silence during the walk. "You're right, but keep in mind that it's normal not to find many during the day, because after all, the nature of monsters is to hunt at night." She said, making a shiver run down my throat.
"Is that true!?" I quickly asked. "Of course it is, and also, at night, the strongest monsters are the ones that lead their packs while hunting." She replied, before an idea popped into my head.
"B-but why don't we just hunt at night?" I asked, confused. "For several reasons, but I think the most important one would be that I heard recently a group of thieves settled around this area, and honestly, I wouldn't want to get involved with them." She said, giving me a smile before looking ahead again.
Thieves? So they exist in this world too. I reflected. I suppose there will always be people who want to get things without any effort.
"Ahh, I wonder what mom's cooked." Zoe commented, stretching as she raised her arms above her head.
"Mmm… I don't know, but it's probably something tasty." I said, imagining some of her dishes. Now that I think about it, Irisha is a really good cook. Though I'm not sure if it's considered good in this world. But well, I like what she makes. I thought happily.
But… it still amazes me that after 25 years in this world, I haven't fully gotten used to the food. I thought to myself. I miss noodles and rice…
We kept walking in silence until various thoughts crossed my mind, making me reflect. After the conversation with Kadian, I decided to focus on my demonic core, which made me advance to the advanced rank quickly, but unfortunately, I haven't been able to test the new ability I gained yet.
This whole thing about not being able to show that I have two cores is becoming annoying. At first, I thought if I told my family, they would treat me like a freak, and discard me, but now I know that's not the case because they love me, so I think in the next few days I'll tell them the truth about it.
I kept thinking, until Zoe brought me back to reality with a question. "Drake, what will you do when you come of age?" She asked timidly.
Huh? Come of age? If I remember correctly, that will be in 15 years, since in my race you're considered an adult at 40. I thought before answering her question. "I'm not sure what I'll do, but as is the custom in our race, I'll separate from mom and dad to start a journey, I think." I replied, trying to sound absent-minded. I know that if I tell her I want to travel the world with Angelica, she'll get furious, so it's better to lie a little.
"Oh… I see, in that case, would you like to go together?" Don't do this to me, Zoe. I thought uncomfortably. "That would be great, but there's still a long time to go, so I don't think it's a good idea to plan anything yet." I said, feeling the weight of my own words.
"You're right…" She said, looking to the side. After that exchange, we didn't say anything else until we arrived home, where I rushed up to the second floor to take a bath. Once I came out, I found Zoe waiting for me to finish.
"E-excuse me." I said shyly before running off to my room. Damn it! I need to stop remembering that bath every time I see Zoe near the bathroom. I told myself in embarrassment.
While I was scolding myself for the inappropriate thoughts I had about my sister, I fell asleep. The next day, I headed to the kitchen as usual, finding Irisha and Zoe in the dining room. Kadian has been away from home for two months now; I wonder when he'll be back.
"Mom, are you going somewhere?" I asked Irisha, seeing her eating quickly. "Yes, I'll be out for a couple of days for matters related to the magical university, because as we're changing academic periods, we'll be discussing several topics and that will take quite a bit of time, so I'll be back the day after tomorrow." Irisha commented, making an idea pop into my head.
If they're changing academic periods, then there won't be classes for at least two weeks, which means Angelica must have returned home. I thought excitedly. Usually, she comes to my house, but now that I know she's back, I think I'll surprise her.
After figuring out what I would do today, I went to the kitchen to grab something to eat while thinking about the things I could do to spend time with Angelica.
"Huh? Did mom already leave?" I asked, confused, only finding Zoe in the dining room. "Yeah, she told me to say goodbye to you on her behalf." She said before stuffing a piece of meat into her mouth. "Ah, thanks…" I thought, feeling puzzled.
After leaving the dining room, I went to my room and quickly got ready, excited to see her. I wonder how she's doing....
I kept walking along the path I already knew by heart until I arrived at her house, the first thing I saw was her brother Paul training in the garden.
"Hello Paul" I said in the demonic language, making him glance at me for a couple of seconds before returning to his training.
"Hello Drake. You're here to see Angelica, aren't you?" He asked with a tone of annoyance, delivering a powerful strike to the air. "That's right. Is she home?"
"Yes, she's inside, but…" He said, creating an odd silence before continuing. "I don't like that you come to see her every time she's back, you know?"
Huh? What's gotten into him now? I thought as I put on a confused face. "If you want to keep seeing her, I need you to… prove your worth by having a competition with me!" He shouted at the end.
"What?" I asked without showing any emotion. "Look, Angelica told me that in recent years you've improved a lot with your magic and sword skills, so I wanted us to have a competition between the two of us to see if you're worthy of being with my sister." He said, his eyes shining with an inner fire.
"Thanks, but I'm not interested." I said, ignoring him as I turned around. But as I did, I found myself face to face with Angelica just a few meters away from me. "And why not, Drake?" She said with a mischievous smile on her lips.
"Wh- What are you doing here, Angelica!?" I asked, utterly surprised. How the hell did I not notice her presence!?
"I was inside doing my things until I heard my brother shout. Since it's not normal for him to scream, I just came to see what was going on, but in the end, it was just you saying you wouldn't fight for me." She said, spinning around me until she stopped next to Paul.
"It's not that I'm not willing to fight for you, it's just that I-" "Besides, if you can beat this weakling, it would be clear that you haven't been wasting your time either, right?" She said, leaning on Paul.
"Hey! Who are you calling weakling!?" Paul said, a little annoyed. How did I get into this? I just wanted to talk to her….
"Ahh! Fine!" I said after letting out a soft sigh. "What kind of competition do you want?" I asked, looking at Paul.
"Huh? I have no idea, I just wanted to challenge you." Paul replied as he scratched his cheek. "You're an idiot," Angelica said, stepping away. "Yes, he is." I followed up.
"Huh? What did you say!?" He said, upset. "That it'd be better if we came up with a fun competition you two could do." Angelica corrected with a mischievous smile.
After thinking of various options such as duels, speed races, strength contests, and others, we finally decided to have a competition to see who could hunt the most monsters in a set period of time.
"Are you sure this will be fun? Because the monsters in this forest are very weak." Paul commented. "It's true, the monsters during the day are weak, but… how about we have the competition at night?" Angelica replied, sending shivers down my spine.
What!? At night? I thought, unsure. "At the university, I heard that the strongest monsters appear at night, so I think it'll be perfect if you want to have your competition." "Bu-but Angelica, won't it be dangerous if we go out at night?" I asked, remembering Zoe's words of warning in my mind.
"Hahaha, are you scared of the dark?" Paul mocked. "I'm not scared!" I quickly replied. "Really? Then why don't you accept, s-c-a-r-e-d." He said again, making my blood boil before I accepted his challenge without much thought.
Damn Paul, with this I'll show you not to get between Angelica and me. I thought, a little annoyed.
"Excellent! Since Drake has accepted, we'll meet at the river on the way to Birton," Angelica said, making my annoyance at Paul disappear. "We'll meet there by dawn, so don't forget to bring your weapons."
Once we agreed on a few extra details, I said goodbye to them, then quickly returned home to get ready. As I entered the house, I found Zoe about to enter her room.
"Hey, Zoe." I said as I passed by her on my way to my room. "Hey, Drake," Zoe replied, stopping me with a hand. "Drake, I want to talk to you right now." She continued, leaving me confused.
"Huh? What's going on, Zoe?" I responded while trying to come up with an excuse to get out of the situation. "I'd like us to talk in my room, so let's go in."
Not knowing what to say, I agreed, on the condition that it would be a quick conversation.
"And why are you in such a hurry, Drake?" Zoe asked once we were inside. "No special reason, I just came up with a new spell and wanted to start training as soon as possible." I replied, trying to sound truthful.
"Really? And what spell is that?" She asked again. "N-no, I can't tell you yet, it's just an idea for now." I replied, feeling a bit nervous.
"I see, Drake, but you know what? Out of the whole family, I'm the one who knows you best, so I know you're not telling me the truth." She said, looking me in the eyes with a worried expression. "So, I'll ask you again, why are you in such a hurry?"
What's wrong with her? Why does she have to interrogate me now? I thought. I guess I have no choice….
"Alright, Zoe, I won't try to fool you again." I responded with guilt. "I'm in a hurry because I want to find a few things to get ready and go back to Angelica's house tonight, because her family promised to show me some magical objects." I said as casually as possible.
"I understand, Drake, but as you know, Dad and Mom aren't home, so I can't give you permission to go out after the sun sets." She said in a calm tone, expecting me to understand.
I knew she'd say something like that, but it doesn't matter, that won't stop me. I thought to myself. "Alright, sister, in that case, I'll be training in the garden until nightfall." I said, pretending to be sad as I stood up from the chair I was sitting in and headed for the door to leave.
"One more thing, Drake, look, I know it's strange, but I have a bad feeling, so promise me you won't try anything strange until mom gets back." She said, making me stop at her door.
"..." At her sudden request, something inside me started to feel bitter, making me uncomfortable and uneasy. "Alright, Zoe, I promise." I said without turning around, while crossing my fingers so she couldn't see. I'm sorry, Zoe, but this is something I have to do, I can't look bad in front of her.
In the time I had spent training in this world, I had reached the Advanced rank in both of my cores, making me considered strong by the people of this world, but not for the things Bernal had entrusted me with. So, trying to experiment with the nature of my demonic core, I discovered a new technique, which later took so long to stabilize that there were moments when I didn't think it would be useful.
The main problem for it to be useful is my mana, because just using it for a couple of seconds drains all my reserves. I thought while meditating, sitting on the grass. That has caused problems for me to practice it or train with it.
Still uncertain, I stood up to try it, in case I needed it against the monsters at some point.
Making sure Zoe wasn't watching me, I started pumping mana from my demonic core throughout my body, making a cold sensation envelop me.
Since I don't want to waste all my mana, I'll just use it for a moment. I thought to myself before grabbing Belarus, the sword that had accompanied me for half of my life in this world.
"I hope this works." I said quietly before lifting my sword with one hand and swinging it forcefully toward the other, which was extended, with the intention of hurting myself. Immaterial!
After pronouncing my spell forcefully, my sword passed through where my other hand was, making that part of my body intangible for an instant.
Yes... thankfully... or else this would have been a pool of blood. I thought, relieved after deactivating my spell.
After that stupid way of testing a use for my spell, I started meditating on my draconic core, hoping to be ready for the night.
...
Several hours passed since Zoe went to rest, so she should already be asleep. I thought, ready in my room. She'll probably only sleep for a couple of hours, so this decoy will be enough to cover me.
Slowly transferring my mana to a couple of magic stones we had in the house, I started reducing mine, leaving only one source of mana with my characteristics in the house.
This is a bit exciting! I thought cheerfully as I slowly raised the window of my room. Before jumping out of my bedroom window, some words Zoe had said in the morning came back to my mind, making me doubt all this.
That's right, because of the situation with Angelica and Paul, I had completely forgotten that Zoe had mentioned bandits were in this area. I thought, doubtful. What should I do?
Looking back, I saw the pair of crystals slowly illuminating my room, thanks to all the mana I had imbued them with, helping me make a decision. I've done everything for this; I can't back down now. Besides, it's very unlikely we'll run into them; after all, this is a big forest. I thought before jumping.
Once on the ground, I ran silently through the forest until I reached the meeting point we had previously agreed upon.
Yes! They're there. I thought excitedly after seeing them sitting on the branches of the trees.
"Hello, Angelica, hello, Paul." I said in the demonic language as they jumped down. "Hello, Drake." Angelica responded, showing a warm smile upon seeing me in that place. "Hello, future loser." Paul said as a form of greeting.
"Stop bothering, Paul; nothing has been decided yet." Angelica said, defending me from her brother, who kept making funny faces to annoy me.
"Leave him alone, Angelica; soon you'll see me shut this charlatan's mouth." I said, responding with other faces at Paul. "You stop acting like a fool too." Angelica said, silencing me as well.
"Well, putting aside your childish fights, I want you to look at this." Angelica said before pulling something out of her pocket. Huh? What could it be? I wondered curiously as I moved closer to see what it was.
"What is that, Angelica?" I asked with curiosity after seeing two white marbles in her hand. "They are two converters." She replied. "What!? Converters? Why do you have them? I thought those devices were quite expensive and hard to obtain." Paul commented.
"You're right, foolish brother, they are quite expensive, but these two are the ones I won in a competition at the magic university." She said, looking at them, before Paul got annoyed upon realizing what Angelica had told him. "Hey, Angelica... and what are converters?" I asked quietly out of embarrassment for not knowing what they were.
"Huh? Well, converters are devices that take 5 percent of a monster's mana when they die. This stored mana is then used as an extra mana reserve, similar to magic crystals." Ahh, now I understand, it's like a battery! I thought clumsily.
"Also, since you can measure the mana inside the converters, thanks to this device, we'll know who the winner will be!" She shouted excitedly.
Once Angelica handed us each a converter, she explained that the color of the sphere would change depending on how much mana it had.
"Right, just so you don't try in vain, you can't add mana in any other way to the converters besides what I mentioned, because this device only takes mana from living beings that leave this world."
Hmm... Does that mean it can also take mana from plants and people? I reflected. What a curious magic object.
After chatting for a while longer, Angelica gave us the converters. Great! Now I can prove to Angelica that I'm worth it.
"It's time to go." Paul said, seeing that we had been wasting time for a while. "You're right, let's go." Angelica replied.
Without further delay, we set off into the depths of the forest.
I feel like this is going to be a great night. I thought as I lightly touched the hilt of my sword and tried to calm my nerves.
...
As we ventured deeper into the forest, the atmosphere became increasingly thick, making it feel like a different environment, even though I had already been in this area during the day.
We've been walking for about an hour. Why haven't we seen any monsters yet? I thought as I followed Paul.
"Don't you think it's strange that we haven't encountered any monsters yet? Are you sure this is the right direction?" I asked, confused at not seeing anything.
"It is the right direction, but... it could be that the monsters are grouping up," Angelica said, confusing me with that strange behavior. "Grouping up? Why?" "I'm not sure, but I remember being taught at university that they usually do that to protect themselves from something."
Curious about her statement, I took a deep breath for 3 seconds, then focused my attention in different directions, searching for monsters.
"Yes, you're right, there are several groups of monsters, two over there, one to our left, a couple to the right, and one in the direction we came from." I said, pointing to their locations with my eyes closed.
"Wow, you're amazing, Drake." Angelica said, making me blush a little. "It's nothing; that's a technique from my family." I said, a bit nervous.
"Alright, stop it, okay?" Paul commented, bringing us back to focus.
"Okay, you both have your converters, right?" He asked while creating some kind of earthen bench with magic to sit on.
"I have mine." Paul replied. "I have mine too." I responded shortly after.
"Great! You'll have two hours to collect as much mana as possible from the monsters. I'll stay here to send a signal when the competition is over." She said as she sat and settled into the seat she had created.
"Are you sure? I don't think it's a good idea for you to stay alone." I asked, concerned as I looked at the trees and the darkness surrounding us.
"Don't worry, I've stayed alone in the forest at night a few times before." She replied with a smile. "Alright, but be careful." I said, feeling uneasy as I glanced at the dark forest.
"What's wrong, Drake, are you already scared of losing?" Paul said after a while, bringing me back to reality.
"Hah— Why would I be scared if there's no chance I'll lose to someone like you?" I replied with a mocking smile. "What did you say, brat?" Paul responded angrily.
"Stop fighting and get started already; I'm getting bored." Angelica finally said, making Paul reluctantly start moving until he disappeared among the trees of the dark forest.
"You go too, Drake, or you'll lose the competition." She said, giving me a slight push.
Without saying anything, I just nodded and started moving in a different direction than Paul.
"Goodbye, Angelica." I said to myself in a low voice as I glanced at her from the corner of my eye.
As I turned my gaze forward, a memory from years ago came to mind. It's strange, but for some reason, this part of the forest seems familiar, like I've been here before. I thought before shaking my head.
Surely it's because I passed through here with Zoe before. I thought, putting aside some strange ideas I had.
Next Chapter: Chapter 15: Collapse Number One, Part Two