At each new level, a grimoire unlocks a skill related to its use.
The difference between a copper and iron rank grimoire is that, if a copper-tier user needs to grasp his grimoire in his hand or manually turn its pages, the other only needs a thought from his master to float in front of him.
Once a grimoire evolves to iron rank, its bond with its master would be much stronger.
The latter can control it through his thoughts—making it float in front of him, turning the pages, and much more.
These are just a few advantages.
--
Four days later, the daily life of the small group still seems monotonous.
Every night, while the others chatted around a campfire, Nikolas reading his booklet, Mystic gave fencing lessons to Devon.
But last night, Nikolas did not allow Mystic to move away from them, even five meters from them.
The bloody mist that, at first barely visible, is now thick, preventing an ordinary human from seeing more than a meter ahead.
For the first time, Mystic was able to rest in a comfortable sleep.
When she woke up, she noticed that the others had not slept because of the nightly attacks of the mutant beasts.
At least, there were ten corpses piled up and butchered around them.
With an attentive eye, she figured out that the others, except Eleanor, had not participated in this butchery.
This conclusion is drawn from the fact that the corpses were all calcined, a skill belonging to Eleanor.
'Hell flame... The unique ability granted to her by her guardian beast is still as frightening as ever.'
Mystic muttered these words as she prepared to head back on the path like the others.
"From here on out, be careful." At that moment, Nikolas' casual voice took over everyone's attention.
"The area we'll be crossing from now on until our destination is a dangerous zone."
He paused as he looked in everyone's eyes.
"Especially the three of you, summon your contracted beasts to increase your chances of survival." These words were addressed to Mystic and her guard, and Claudia.
He didn't warn Shin who, despite being the holder of an iron-rank grimoire like Noha and Claudia, is older and stronger too.
"Roger!" The three answered together like soldiers.
"Mhm." As usual, Nikolas wasn't too talkative.
"Release your horses, they'll be more of a burden than anything else." He then added, surprising everyone.
"We'll continue on foot!?" Eleanor asked out of surprise.
"Don't argue!"
In the clan, there was no place for kinship, there were only juniors, elders, and the patriarch, no more or less.
In simple terms, Eleanor sees Nikolas more as her elder than her father.
After his order, Eleanor scowled in her grimace, but as usual, she didn't dare disobey her elder.
"The horses won't get lost?"
"No, they'll find their way back," Mystic answered Noha, albeit briefly.
"Keep your current belongings on you, the leftovers, get rid of them, or put them in your dimensional pockets," Nikolas added before starting to walk straight ahead.
Meanwhile, Mystic called Devon to her side.
As Noha and Claudia's grimoires floated in front of them the pages turning on their own with the help of their thoughts.
In the end, Noha summoned an arctic wolf that was about ~150cm tall.
Its fur was snowy white, its claws, and its canines were longer than ordinary arctic wolves.
But the most notable detail was the thirty-centimeter white horn embedded on its forehead.
"Ho~ho~, a unicorn wolf? That's a beautiful beast, I wanted to have one of those among my collections." Claudia chuckled as she glared at Noha's pet with avarice.
Behind her, was a grizzly bear over two meters tall on its two hind legs.
"For my part, given how cunning you are, I expected you to have a vixen as a familiar," Noha commented with a trace of sarcasm in his tone.
Compared to that grizzly and unicorn wolf, Devon seems like an annoying and barely visible black blob.
'...Evolution points are in front of me, but I can't have them with me.' Devon mutters as he looks at these two mutant beasts.
Both are advanced levels, unlike the mutant axe-snake, they are one rank higher.
Yet, Devon seems convinced of his victory if he fights them, …separately.
But he did not act recklessly.
He stayed by Mystic's side as the group made their way through the woods.
As Nikolas had announced, the group did not even walk an hour before they encountered new predators.
"Kid, since you haven't yet contracted any beast, that's the right opportunity to pick one."
Nikolas announced to Mystic as the group arrived in a shaded area that seemed to be the spiders' territory.
The trees were bound by thick webs, some of which could even be mistaken for branches.
"Understood, Sixth elder." Although passive, Mystic still gave her answer.
Out of excitement, Eleanor cracked her knuckles while flames danced in her eyes.
"Kehehe! Those webs, I bet a zone boss is hiding there."
"Don't get too excited, nothing is certain yet."
Ivan retorted as he surveyed the surroundings with eyes similar to those of a hawk.
Eleanor didn't listen to him, she was like a child visiting the zoo for the first time.
Everything around her excited her, no matter what.
But no one seemed to care, especially Nikolas who was walking as if he was on his morning hike.
As the group made their way deeper into the forest, the webs became more and more present.
The sunlight was almost camouflaged by them.
And the temperature was dropping too.
After ten minutes, their paths were blocked by a large reddish web stretching over fifty meters.
Lazy to get around this, Nikolas unsheathed his sword and put it back in its sheath.
No one was able to see exactly the movements of his sword.
However, when he took a step forward, the blade strikes he made showed themselves on the webs going up to ten meters in front… cutting anything on the road, even the giant trees.
-Squeeeak!!
At the same time, a piercing scream rang out in the distance as soon as the master of the place sensed the intruders.
"Kehehe, here we go!"
Eleanor grew more excited as she heard the shrill screeching sound coming from afar.
"What rank do you think it is? I say it's a King-rank monster commanding its advanced-ranked brethren."
As she said these words, the webs aside them began to tremble as if those stepping on them were too heavy to bear.
Counting the number of webs that were shaking,
"Oi oi, are they not a bit lot?" Claudia whispered those words with dark eyes.
Although her words sounded as if she was stressed, her eyes were nothing of the same.
The piercing screech was like a king commanding his troops.
It only took ten seconds for Devon and everyone else to finally see what the creatures that were spinning those webs looked like.
As the first waves, a total of ten spiders rivaling Claudia's grizzly bear in size surrounded them from above.
Eleanor, who seemed to be at the end of her patience showed a twisted smile that sent chills down the spines of Devon and the other two guards who accompanied them.
Claudia was used to her fiery temper.
'Sigh, no wonder she's not popular with men, despite being beautiful.' She mumbled with a forced smile on her lips.
Meanwhile, Mystic looked around with a slight frown.
'They are all advanced ranks.' She thought based on the emerald aura they gave off.
Unlike her, Devon who is ignorant of the basic knowledge of this world, relied on his Appraisal eyes to see the ranks of the spiders boasting to appear.
Each of them had horribly disproportionate and long legs, six ruby-like eyes encrusted on their heads, and hideous fangs.
[Mutant Violinist spider (Lvl03)]
[lifespan: 01/20 years.]
[Combat power: 50]
[Innate Talent: Venom, Strong webs, blood-sucking.]
-Its venom can corrode, pulpits, and bones.
-Even stronger than steel cable. It can use its webs to capture, shred, or immobilize its prey to keep it cool for later.
-After imprisoning its prey with its webs, it uses its hooks to paralyze its prey already captured with paralyzing venom and suck its blood.
Challenge: average. (+27 XPs) - (+8EP)
--
'...Although they are at the same rank as the Mutant Axe-Snake, the gains are minimal compared to the latter. Is it because I leveled up?' Devon was puzzled at this information.
However, he did not complain.
He manifests his black sword and stands ready at his master's side.
Mystic looks at Devon and raises her eyebrows.
She did not need to ask him to guess his intentions.
"Sixth elder...can we let my guardian beast gain some experiences with them?"
She then made this request in favor of Devon.
"There are enough enemies around, do your best to stay in the race."
Nikolas did not think before giving his answer.
His eyes then landed on Eleanor and Ivan.
"You two, do not interfere, let the four weaker ones show their skills."
"Huh!? You just said that--
"Forget it, we'll have enough time to go wild soon." Before Eleanor could finish complaining, Ivan cut her off by saying those words with a friendly smile.
She looks at him with annoyed eyes.
'This son of a bitch! He always pretends to be the nicest when there is no worse than his kind.' She mumbles grumpily.
"...Well, do your job."
Nikolas who was watching everything in silence then ordered the four.
As soon as his order fell into Shin's ears, the latter confidently advanced in front of the group.
Being the strongest, it is natural that he is the commander.
"Each of us will have to defend a specific direction. Miss Claudia and I will take care of the front and the back, the young Miss and Noha will take care of the sides."
His instructions were quick and precise.
Except that...
"What are you doing?" His facial muscles twisted in indignation when he saw Devon and Mystic next to him maintaining their positions.
"..."
Mystic didn't answer, she unsheathed her sword and whispered to Devon.
"Show me that my sleepless nights weren't in vain."
"Those words can confuse, young miss." As always, Claudia was true to her twisted mind.
However, Shin became more exasperated when he saw that none of them were listening to his orders.
"Are you deaf or are you pretending to be idiots?!"
For Mystic, it's okay considering her background, but for the others, it was a different story.
However, those rude words he just said didn't go unnoticed in the ears of Mystic and the others.
But before Mystic could speak, Noha had overtaken her.
"Sir Shin, be careful when speaking to Milady!" His usual kind and warm tone of voice seemed to grow louder and angrier as he gave Shin this warning.
However, the latter only saw wind in his warning.
"Otherwise what? What could a brat like you do?"
"You..."
"Noha, focus. This is not the time." Mystic cut in his guard before he got lost in his anger.
The latter swallowed his anger after two deep breaths and replied.
"Sorry, Milady."
"Assist me from the left side, and leave the ones in front to me."
"Understood."
The two exchanged as if Shin didn't exist.
It didn't only Shin, but also Ivan who was behind.
'Since when did this incompetent become so arrogant?'
The only one who could see the demonic face Ivan was currently showing was Eleanor next to him.
She snorts with contempt as she mutters, 'Which proves that dogs don't make cats.'
This rage that was anything but harmless that she saw in her cousin could only confirm her suspicions about him.
Mystic who didn't know these flows of hostility charged into the heap with her sword like an extension of her arm followed by Devon behind.