My prey’s skull ended up crushed alongside his horns in between my teeth of steel, sending bits of his squashed brain flying outward as I held onto him tightly enough to completely warp the shape of his chest entirely.
The lesson on how to get the answers to your questions was very successful. Thus, as a reward, I fed upon his remains until nothing was left of the man-goat, leaving only an empty, poorly decorated room with devil-summoning circles still hidden under the carpet.
I pulled the stitched-together ss off to get a look, but I frankly wasn’t very interested in such a practice. The one devil this guy had managed to summon had literally run away. This is the problem with summoning beings that have their own agency. They can just decide that it isn’t worth it to help you.
Much different from my adorable little sisters. Who are not only cute beyond belief, but are also very helpful assistants who wouldn’t just escape at the slightest sign of trouble.
Anyway… There was no plague to be found here in the end. It seems like the mutations were caused by so random devil this guy had summoned prior to my arrival. This was unfortunate. I might have been able to get closer to, or perhaps even directly acquire a new form.
Regardless, I turned the room upside down. Soon, I found a hatch hidden underneath the poorly constructed throne. Most of what was hidden down there was just resources intended for creating devil-summoning arrays, which were worthless to .
There were just a few bits of steel for to feast upon alongside so unidentified bones.
Well… I didn’t really waste my ti since I wasn’t doing anything to begin with, but it was safe to say that I was a bit disappointed nonetheless.
I am back
Oh? Did you find out what he was talking about? I am fairly certain my soul is pristine and pure.
Your soul is pretty dark, actually. Like… The bottom of a well that’s been sealed, and it’s on a night with no moon…
Surely, it simply follows the colour sche of my gorgeous hair–Which I do not have any of in this form, but you see what I am talking about.
I do not think he was worried about how dark your soul was, though. This man dealt with devils, so he certainly saw worse than this. I had never noticed since I don’t have easy access to such things and never bothered to check, but… I think it’s best if I just show you
Nara manifested system panels, just like the ti she had shown what a Goblin Shark was, but this ti, it was showing several images of so sort of big bird with a wide wingspan, a long neck covered in thick, mane-like feathers, and with a very crow-like beak.
In sum, it reminded of several common birds mixed together and seemingly enlarged to a rather impressive degree, making the whole thing resemble a sort of great avian beast.
The images showed the sa beast every ti, but with slight differences that I frankly wasn’t certain I understood. I could tell sothing was different between so of them, but I was unable to put my finger on what was actually differentiating them.
Do these shadow-looking birds have sothing to do with my soul?
As I spoke, one of the images was enlarged.
This is your soul. For so reason, it is shaped like a bird and… Seems to sowhat have a mind of its own? Not literally, of course, but it does have behaviour of sorts. I think it’s on the lookout for sothing…
…Huh…? Has it… Has it always been shaped like that?
According to the archives…
There are archives of my soul?
…It has indeed always been this way–And yes, there are indeed archives that I can consult. Not the easiest thing in the world, but I am a system, I don’t get tired. It’s just that it takes a little while to get the information
Several other images were enlarged.
This odd shape also applies to your other non-corporeal traits–By that, I an your mind, spirit, and the like. At first, I thought that they were all lded together, and that it was why everything was shaped in the sa manner, but it turns out that everything is separate. Sohow, they all just look the exact sa
The behaviour of the birds is also the sa regardless of whether it is the soul or sothing else
Alright… Does this an anything? I was never found to have any affinity for those things, even when my parents were calling every specialist available to find so hidden talent.
My first instinct was that this was a sign of a strong affinity for a way of power called ‘Soul Beast Manifestation’, a way of power which can be declined into other forms–Just switch ‘soul’ for sothing else–But it doesn’t seem to be the case
I’ve never heard of this way of power before, but I would assu the guys who checked for soul affinities would have noticed sothing if I were truly talented in it.
You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.
Indeed… I couldn’t find anything to point to what this ant, so… I guess the explanation for now is that your non-corporeal traits just have a funny shape? And… Move, for so reason…
Alright. Thanks for the help, Nara. That’s another forehead kiss to add to the list of things I’ll give you when I can hold you.
Mmh… What is on that list, exactly?
Don’t worry about it.
Anyway! I know why Mister Goat was so freaked out. I guess his eye-thing allowed him to see my soul, and instead of… Whatever a soul is supposed to look like, he saw a giant, pitch-black bird stare back at him. That’s fun.
There surely is a way to make use of this, but if Nara can’t figure it out, then I sure as well can’t either. I’ll have to experint and see if sothing works out.
I went out of the cavern, running into none of the so-called ‘allies’ the devil lover had ntioned. Just as expected, he had no friends whatsoever, and if he did, they probably left him behind for his poor sense of hygiene… I know goats have a strong sll to them, but I don’t think they are supposed to look so ssy still.
Also, goats are supposed to be cute. He was not cute at all. Therefore, he deserved death.
Mmh… Which direction did I co from again?
Once I got back to the now utterly empty village, I made sure not to backtrack and went back to travelling. I did not stumble upon any secret eting or other peculiar scenes. I simply kept going until I reached a much sparser forest, eventually finding myself in open, wavy plains reminiscent of the Great Plains in the mindscape, only much less adapted for running.
Although far from flat, it still allowed to see far and wide across the horizon, and in the distance I spotted a large city built in the middle of a humongous lake–I think this was big enough to be called an inland ocean.
The water was clear and sparkling as sunlight fell upon it.
This is gorgeous, but… Wouldn’t it take literal days to travel across those absurdly long bridges?
Although a real work of art, the city did not exactly seem rchant-friendly. Carriages would have to travel for an impressively long period of ti upon the bridges to get to the city, and considering that the city was only surrounded by much smaller villages, the rchants coming here wouldn’t be coming from next door either.
Trade was part of the lifeblood of any big city or even town. I had been in charge of my parents’s business for several years, so I had experience in this domain. Unless you were so elf who lived in the forest with at most a few dozen more elves, you could hardly have a self-sustaining community.
As I approached, however, I got my answer as a huge creature suddenly flew out from behind the high walls, carrying supplies on its back as well as anywhere else on its body that could be occupied without obstructing its flight or ability to land.
Well, this explains that, I suppose…
That thing is honestly enormous beyond belief… There is no way it was just hanging around on the ground without causing a problem, is there? They surely have more than one transporter like this, too.
It didn’t look like a dragon, but it didn’t have any feathers either. What was that thing exactly?
Looks like a very big Quetzalcoatlus to
Is that what this is called?
Yes
I thought that was a snake.
The na is inspired by the serpent deity
…It’s obviously not a snake, though?
Weird nas are to be expected when things are nad by whoever got their foot in the door first
That’s why I hate intellectuals, easily the most idiotic people of all.
Anyway… How could I get inside of this city… Or at least, how could I make sure so people bring ‘Rember ?’ in with them? At the mont, my main objective was rather straightforward: I wanted to beco stronger.
If I want to comfortably get my hands on my brother, I’ll need all the power I can get. At the mont, unlocking the ‘Nightmare Form’ seems like the best course of action. Even in its reduced state, it had proven incredibly useful.
Once the form was properly acquired, I would definitely gain access to greater control over the nightmare trials, and probably even beco capable of many more things–Sneaky things.
Of course, cooking up new curses was now part of the course, but I needed to get my hands on new ingredients–Not just esoteric or special ones, but the basic stuff as well. Inside a city, I should be able to check out a bunch of shops for them.
I probably wouldn’t be finding any curses or spirits to snack on, though. Unless they have poorly operated graveyards with communal graves, that is.
Mmh… Surely, so carriages do end up using these bridges, right? If I can board one and hide in it using my ‘Plush Form’, then getting inside the city should be rather simple… After all, even if the gate guards end up searching the carriage, will they really think much of what they would be perceiving as a harmless little plush?
I hadn’t felt any of the active ‘Rember ?’ being dispelled so far, so the felines and bovine should still be over at that town. They shouldn’t be showing up here, at least, not too quickly.
The plan was simple: Get in, spread my curse and nightmares all over the city as quickly as possible, break into a few shops to gain new ingredients, and then get out of here, probably by reenacting my escape from Tolten–By jumping off the wall, into the lake.
That last part, though… I was doubtful that the lake wasn’t filled to the brim with aquatic creatures. If so, it would easily get troubleso for . I wasn’t nearly as agile in water as I was on dry land.
Also, as thick-skinned as I may be, watery depths were definitely nerve-wracking to be in. None of my forms could swim either. My knightly form had the right body shape for it, but was still way too heavy to float.
I guess taking a carriage out of the city would be for the best. I would rather not have to discuss with so abominable creatures of the deep.
Wait. I almost forgot! Silly . I just need to leave a plush outside to get out whenever I want to.
Not that Nara wouldn’t have reminded in two seconds hadn’t I rembered on my own…
On this note, I went back to the wooded area and hid two plushes in case one of them was sohow torn to shreds for so reason… I hid one up in a tree, and buried the other in a shallow hole, covering it with sticks and rocks.
Now, I just needed to wait for a rchant’s caravan to pass by–Or maybe not, I could feel the pull of a final trial upon .
The pull was… Stronger than usual, for so reason…
I don’t know if I have a bad or good feeling about this.
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