Day 32
‘Nothing like a peaceful day, innit Aeri?’
"Yep! A bit different from the always noisy village back home.”
‘That's nice.’
"Hmhm."
"Only if Ulva could come take a sun bath with us."
Ulva was currently unable to step out into the sun. Her being a dhampyr and all.
"Hmm, I don’t know her much, but I’m surprised you haven’t killed her yet. She looks like a worthy trophy.”
Aeri said something a bit insensitive. Strange enough, I didn’t care enough to actually argue with her on the matter."
I patted her on the head, then continued to stroke her back, which made her purr. She was just like a cat. She reminded me of Ryo. Mizuki's pet cat. I never ever got along with her. Anything I would try to stroke her she would scratch me.
'Onii-chan, come play with Ryo.'
I heard Mizuki's voice, which made me look around.
A screen popped up in front of me.
[Side Quest (Optional): Save the dhampyr]
[Status: Completed]
[Description: The little dhampyrs Ulva has been kidnapped. Who knows what manner of deeds are being performed on her! Save her as quickly as possible!]
[Rewards: 5000 gold coins
2000 experience points
50 stat points
‘Oh sweet… but wasn’t I supposed to get four rewards?’
DING!
[You have completed certain hidden targets for this mission! You have received a Special Silver Chest]
[Will you open this chest?]
Ø [YES]/[NO]
‘Hmm? What is this? A treasure chest?’
A silver chest appeared before me. It was quite fancy with some weird designs all around it and a ruby on the top. I tapped on the [YES] option the screen presented and the chest opened up automatically.
I picked up a tiny metal. I didn't know what to do with and no status screen was popping up.
“Hey, what you up to, little bird?"
Aeri asked.
‘Oh, just exploring a- Ah! When did you get so big?
I was surprised by her height. She was easily twice as big as she was back just a second ago.
"Teetee, it's my natural ability to grow very big, although this is the biggest I can get for now."
‘For now?’
"Yes. True Battle Gods easily reach the sky. My great uncle was as big as a mountain or so my dad said."
‘So you’ve never met him before?’
“No.”
‘Good. Good. Meaning there’s no concrete proof of such a being’s existence. I'd never want a True Battle God as my opponent if they were real.’
"Yep, they'd crush you instantly. And they are real!”
‘Have you seen one before?’
“No, but I can tell if something is real or not, you know?”
‘Oh really? How can you?’
“I just can! Hmph.”
She pouted and poked my head. Thanks to [Slime Body] I wasn’t crushed immediately.
“Hey, that thing."
Aeri shrank as she came closer to me. I noticed her gaze was fixed on the item I in the box. I lifted it up for her to get a better view of it.
‘You recognize it?’
"Yep… this is my favorite meal."
‘Meal? I honestly thought that this was metal. Agent, isn’t that right?’
DING!
[There are some errors with the unique skill [God’s Voice]! Error is being attended to]
‘Ah… I’ve been getting this since yesterday. What exactly is wrong with the unique skill? Last time I asked it a question, I got some response like “Jasper. Lilith. Error.”.’
That kept me up at night. I didn’t know when I’d be safe sleeping anymore and I now had to focus a lot on sensing changes to my surroundings and body just so I wouldn’t die.
"Yes. Meal. Although there isn’t a lot around where we live. The elves and dwarves have a lot of these though. I should probably go and ask them for some later.”
Aeri was probably thinking out loud, so I decided to ignore her and focus on other things. Like the fact that she mentioned something about elves. Meaning she lived close to elves. Which meant, if I went with her to her home, I would be able to see an entire city of big bouncy elves. Unlike that tsundere from the city.
‘Aeri, where do Battle Gods live?’
"The mountains to the east of here.”
She pointed somewhere north-east.
“My Guri Tribe resides at the highest point, the peak that is known as the Dragon’s Graveyard. The Demise Mountains."
‘Ah… Dragon’s Graveyard? Demise Mountains?’
“Yes! That is what the humans called it. Although my people refer to it as Mystic Peaks.”
‘Ah… they stole the name from that popular video game back home! Ah whatever. Sounds interesting.’
"Yes. Alongside the Lesser Dragons and mutants."
‘Mutants?’
"Yes. Very nasty creatures. They roam the Demise Mountains, killing anything that comes in their way. That's how come the mountains got that name."
‘You sure it's not because of you Battle Gods?’
"Of course we Battle Gods barely leave our territory. Except for our annual Tribe Games and Chieftain Inheritance Tradition, we will not waste our time to leave our homes. That is far too dangerous."
‘Seriously? You say that like there is something more dangerous than you guys out there?’
"Hmhm… That is where the black dragon lives."
‘Black Dragon?’
"Hmm… Very dangerous dragon. It is most advisable to steer clear of its way or else it'll destroy you."
‘So even a tribe of dragon slayers has nothing on it?’
Aeri had a different air about her as she looked at the horizon. She seemed quite serious, and I didn’t want to pry so I looked at the piece. Since Aeri said it was like a snack, I simply grabbed it and swallowed in one gulp.
“Eh?! You ate it all without me? You greedy little bird!”
There were tears in her eyes and she lifted me off the ground and attempted to eat me up.
“I’ll kill you!”
‘Hehehe. You snooze, ya lose! Sucker!’
[Due to the unique skill [Evolver] you have acquired the skill [Mithril Body]]
‘What? Aeri, let go of me for a second.’
“Hm? Ok.”
She dropped me and I landed. I checked out the skill.
[Skill name: Mithril Body]
[Skill Type: Regular, Body
[Description: Cover your body in mithril plating. You will receive a boost in defense, speed and strength depending on how much mana your body possesses. That is, +10 defense = 5 mana, +5 Speed = 5 mana, +8 strength = 5 mana]
A screen popped out before me. This had a different vibe to it as compared to the agent describing the skill to me. And the description for the skill was quite simple and easy to understand, going so far as giving me examples.
I immediately activated the skill, however I didn’t see any difference in my body. I checked my stats however and was stunned to see the change in stats. My defense had gone up by 600, my speed by 300 and strength by 480. My overall ranking was no longer C-, but C+. At this point, I could confidently say that my growth rate was outstanding. Not even a month and I had come this far from F rank.
That left me wondering though. If a C+ rank monster like me could terrorize a city, albeit a small part of it, why were humans still alive? Even with number they should stand no chance against anything B rank and beyond. I seriously wanted an answer! And fast.
“You look tasty."
Aeri said, grabbing me by my neck.
‘No eating the chicken!’
I smacked her head and she winced.
"Teetee."
‘Hey, Aeri. One day I'll have to go to the Demise Mountains for some elves. I hope you'll take me there.’
"Sure. No problem."
‘Hey Aeri.’
"Yea?"
‘When are you leaving?’
"Probably never."
‘That's nice.’
"Yea."
‘WAIT!!! Aren't you the next chieftain!?’
"Yes."
‘Then aren't you supposed to go back?’
"Don't worry. They'll replace me."
‘That easily?’
"Yea. Life in the Guri Tribe is survival of the fittest. If I'm not there, the next strongest will take over."
‘Doesn't that mean that you're the strongest Battle God?’
"Don't know. There are more Battle God Tribes, although quite scarce since the Battle God race itself is almost out of this world."
'Almost extinct?'
I looked at her and she wore a bright smile on her face as she looked at the sun set.
'Also, for a tribe of brute warriors, your speech is quite impressive. Ah… wait… how do I understand you without the Agent?’
“Hmm? What agent? Are you ok?”
‘N-Never mind. I never asked, but how did you get kidnapped?’
"Oh that? I let myself get kidnapped."
‘Eh?’
"Yeah, I didn't want to be the next chieftain so I got myself kidnapped instead."
'Are you actually stupid?’
“No. I’m the smartest my village has to offer.”
‘That must mean the standards aren’t really high, huh?’
“Wha-?! You keep insulting my people. I might actually break you at this point.”
‘Why didn't you just run away instead of getting enslaved?’
"Well, because it's a disgrace for a chieftain to have been captured by measly humans before. If I had ran away, they would have just tracked me down once my father died. At least now my brother can take over."
‘Wow… well, good on ya!’
"This is nice."
‘Yea.’
