Devon's silence discouraged Mystic from continuing the conversation with him.
Therefore, her face became empty of emotion again, and looked behind her.
"Noha,
For the first time, she addressed her bodyguard.
Although surprised, Noha didn't panic—he responded calmly. "Yes, Milady?"
He dismounted from his horse and came running near Mystic.
"You know how to skin, right?"
"...Yes, I know the basics."
"Alright, then do it."
"At your command, Milady."
After this brief exchange, Mystic leaves the boring job to Noha and returns next to Nikolas.
"Sixth elder,
Hearing her call him by his title, Nikolas felt compelled to come out of his thoughts.
"Mhm, your guardian beast still needs the experience to better master its skills. Help it improve by teaching it your basic skills."
He gave this advice in a casual tone.
"Understood, Sixth elder."
Right after these words, Mystic looked behind her after hearing the sound of Noha's footsteps.
In the latter's bloody hands, was a fist-sized ivory core.
"Here's axe-snake core, Milady Mystic."
Mystic looked at the core, puzzled and undecided.
The others also seemed to have noticed the internal battle she was waging.
"Can a skeleton that is nothing but a pile of bones consume a core?" The question was asked by Ivan who smiled in contempt.
Mystic who listened to his mockery didn't like it.
At one point, she almost responded to her cousin's disdainful remarks.
But in the end, being so uncertain, she held back.
Anyway, she picked up the core from Noha's hands and stared at Devon.
"...You… can you eat that up?"
"..."
"Pffthahah, are you kidding? How--
"Brat, shut your mouth up!" The sixth elder strongly scolded Eleanor who wanna take advantage of the comical circumstances to make fun of Mystic.
Although Mystic is not the youngest among the whole third generation, here, she's both the youngest and weakest.
However, Devon didn't take any of these to heart.
'Phew~, I'd also laugh at that weird question.'
As he muttered these words, he walked closer to Mystic before picking the ivory core up from this latter's hand.
'System, can I…
Before he ever finished his words, the core lit up in his hand before vanishing!
At that sight, he wished to proudly smirk at Eleanor and Ivan, but since he couldn't do that, he gave up and focused on the notification that popped up before his eyes.
"Hell, how did it do that!?"
As Nikolas closely stares at Devon with puzzled eyes like the others, the woman knight exclaims her disbelief through her jittery tone.
The gleam which's currently full her eyes up were same as those of the others.
'Seems like another odd beast has come up to life.' Nikolas mumbles as if he sees the most natural thing in front of him.
Afterward, Nikolas and his gang resumed the road toward their destinations.
The journey to reach the Jolon front which is deeply embedded in this forest would take them at least a week.
During this short journey, danger will be omnipresent around them, lurking in the shades like the corpse they just left behind.
--
The chances that a low-rank mutant beast like the basic and average rank will drop a core are three-tenths.
However, all beasts beyond these first two ranks have cores whose color varies according to the power and the beast's rank.
Cores are worth more than gold because of their importance in this world.
In the hands of a blacksmith, they can become powerful weapons, some of which even inherit skills related to the beast.
Alchemists can also create certain elixirs that, when consumed, boost the strength or agility of the consumer. Regardless, it depends on the alchemist and the core of the beast.
--
After Devon's fight against the Mutant Axe-Snake, the group, unexpectedly, did not encounter any other threats on their paths.
The weak beasts that were roaming around fled at their sight.
After eight long hours on their horses without taking a break, Nikolas finally allowed the small squad he leads to camp.
Although his order was sudden, no one dared to question him when they saw the shadows of the trees become long under the influence of the light of the setting sun.
They were not given tents or cushions.
The group lit a campfire and surrounded it in silence.
Taking advantage of this moment of pause and silence, Devon also sorted through his thoughts and gains.
'System, display my balance.'
[EP: 16.1]
'Fifteen, huh? My first prey not only gave me his life but also its core. That's a nice harvest for a start—thank yah, axe snake.'
Although the reward for killing the Mutant Axe-Snake is five, the ten additional gains are due to the core he absorbed with the help of his system.
'I was right, experience is the best teacher. Thanks to my fight against this snake, I finally understood the problem.
Even if my skill is powerful, without strength, tips, and experience, it's useless.'
With that conclusion, he traded the sixteen evolution points for eight stat points and put'em all into his strength.
--STATS--
[Host: Devon Cradle (Lvl 03).]
[Lifespan: --.]
[Race: Undead skeleton]
[Classe: none.]
[Spiritual energy: 56->61.]
[Body strength: 21->26->34.]
[Combat power: 77->87->95.]
[Xps: 01%] - [EP: 0.1]
--
Each level-up grants him 10 additional points, equally split between his two stats.
Adding the eight points to his Body strength, the total was 34.
'I'm not in the count yet, but it's not uncatchable. One day, my statistics will surpass that of this man called Pettriddas.'
After that, he glances at the others.
-Stats- (Nicolas)
[Human mutated (seven order)]
[Lifespan: 145/460years]
[Combat power: 6.5 million.]
...
'Unsurprisingly, the strongest is this man who seems to be only in his twenties.' He said as he stared at Nikolas.
The other anomaly he noticed was that Mystic's two cousins had a fairly high number compared to the three guards accompanying them.
-Stats- (Ivan Shadow)
[Human mutated (3rd order)]
[Lifespan: 26/230years]
[Combat power: 21047.]
...
-Stats- (Eleanor Shadow)
[Human mutated (2nd order)]
[Lifespan: 26/230years]
[Combat power: 10301.]
...
-Stats- (Noha)
[Human (1st order)]
[Lifespan: 21/134years]
[Combat power: 450.]
...
-Stats- (Shin)
[Human (1st order)]
[Lifespan: 34/101years]
[Combat power: 524.]
...
-Stats- (Claudia)
[Human (1st order)]
[Lifespan: 30/120years]
[Combat power: 643.]
...
-Stats- (Mystic Shadow)
[Human mutated (Level 03)]
[Lifespan: 16/251years]
[Combat power: 69->74.]
...
'How strange. With my current strength, I'm powerful enough to lift 250 kilos even though I only have 34 points in strength.
While they, even assuming a hundred points in strength and the rest for spiritual energy, it's still too much compared to our power.'
As soon as he finished saying these words, the system answered again without even needing to be asked.
[Generally, contractors evolve by following the path traced by their grimoire.]
'...Put it simply...?'
[2/10. 2 being physical strength and 8 representing spiritual strength.]
'...Even assuming this is true, there is still a significant gap between us and them.'
[A contractor's overall strength increases by x4 or x5 when he reaches the 1st order.]
'...Seriously..? Will this be the case for us too?' His eyes light up with hope as he reads these words.
[...No.]
'WTF!? Why wouldn't it be the same?'
[Because of your status as a host, it's very likely that your master will die during your evolution.]
'...Because we won't have enough gains, right?'
[Because, unlike the others, your gains will be multiplied by x10 due to your status as a host.]
'...'
[The chances of her surviving a sudden energy boost are 30-100.]
'...That's scary.'
"Hey, little chick, how did you successfully pass a contract with your grimoire which always refused to accept you?"
In the meantime, Eleanor tried to start a conversation between her and Mystic who was only looking at Devon next to her, sometimes frowning.
Her question piqued everyone's curiosity, including Nikolas who was reading a book.
"..."
"Come on, if you keep silent, your beloved big sis could die by curiosity."
She persisted by nudging Mystic.
"..."
"Tsk, tsk, so boring." She clicked her tongue in annoyance at seeing Mystic persist in her silence.
Nikolas watched the whole scene without intervening.
After a moment, Mystic stood up and picked up her sword.
Seeing her actions, Nikolas asked impassively.
"Where are you going?"
"Not far, I want to practice a little so I don't rust."
Following her answer, Nikolas looks above him. "The red mist will set up soon. Don't go more than a hundred meters away or you risk getting lost."
"...I'll be careful, so..."
Before she finished her sentence, her face darkened when she saw Eleanor jump to her feet.
"Let's hang out, I could both ensure your protection and serve as your punching bag, Whaddaya think?"
"…No need. I intend to try to train my partner." Mystic gave a categorical refusal after seeing Eleanor's eerie smile.
She then looks at Devon. "Are you coming?"
Devon looks at her with confusion, unable to know when this idea crossed her mind.
Regardless, he didn't refuse the offer, he was delighted.
Eleanor and the others watched the two venture away from the campfire until they disappeared from their sight in silence.
"What's this obsession you've suddenly developed towards her? Since when have you been interested in your juniors?"
Ivan didn't fail to ask Eleanor while he watched her twisted smile.
"Keheheh, you're curious, huh?"
Ivan's eyes turned cold when he heard her say these words.
"…No, not anymore." He replied before pretending nothing.
His eyes then landed on Noha.
"And what's you? You're not accompanying her?"
Noha smiled ironically at this question.
"No, I feel like I'm intruding if I force things with her. I'm still new."
His answer made Claudia smile like a vicious as she said.
"Listening to you, one would almost believe that you're in a relationship with her."
"W-what you say as bullshits, Miss Claudia!?" Noha's tongue kept stumbling while his cheeks reddened with embarrassment.
"Hoho~? Do I hit the right point? Haha, how beautiful, youthfulness."
"S-shut up!"
"Hahaha…"
Gradually, the climate became cordial between the fellows of the same party.
Sometimes Ivan also slipped into the conversation with sneaky topics.
The quietest was Nikolas who just read while listening to their nonsense without commenting.
'I wonder if it's a good idea to leave her alone in this forest.
We are still far from dangerous areas, she should get away with the mutant beasts lurking here.'