My arm pierced through the slime with ease, shattering the creature's core easily. My slime dissolved the core, but no skills were gained from it.
Acquired 5 exp
Leaving the dead creature behind, the next one began to roll towards me. It was slightly larger and seemed to be faster as well. It jumped towards me, but before it reached me, I stepped to the side, causing the slime to fly by my head. Wind followed as its mass flew through the air, making my white hair flow elegantly. Quickly, as the creature missed, my arm flew through the air, piercing it through and making its circular body lose form. Quickly dissolving the core, I moved again.
Acquired 10 exp
Walking towards the new creatures to finish the job, they seemed to realize that they could defeat me. As fast as they could roll, they moved away from me, trying to escape into the forest. Dashing towards them, they did not last long, both being pierced through almost instantly.
Acquired 5 exp
Acquired 5 exp
After dissolving their cores, the purple box reappeared.
Body Density lvl1, acquired
Reading the skill, I eagerly waited for the words to fade. They vanished, and the process started. My body quaked for a moment as heat built in my core. With an explosion, it was released into my body, causing immense pain. Falling to one knee, it hurt to breathe, and it felt as if my body itself was hardening. Gasping, the pain diminished before eventually ceasing entirely.
My chest retracted for a moment while my body recovered from obtaining the skill. My body felt stronger and more durable. It felt as if I were heavier, even though there was no actual increase in mass. The weight increase did not affect my speed, as my muscles and bones were strengthened as well. Quickly opening the Demon System and checking the skills description.
Body Density lvl1 increases the density of the user by 10%
It's very straightforward; I should have probably guessed that from the name of the skill.
Approaching a nearby tree, I punched it, causing a chunk of bark to break off; my hand bled, but my bones did not falter. My hand throbbed for a moment before returning to normal, and next, I turned my hand fully into the red slime spike. The difference was great; even my slime's density had increased. Thrusting at the tree, the difference was noticeable, increasing the depth my spike travelled by 10%!
Smiling at the changes and thinking about the rest of my skills, I opened the Demon system once again.
Name: ####
Title: ####
Race: DemonBorn (Mythical)
Tier: 1 (fledgling)
Class: Devourer (Mythical)
Lvl: 2 (30/200)
Blood: (24/150)
Skills:
Intrinsic:
Tier 1
Gluttony lvl 1- ???
Gelatinous Form lvl 3- 17 blood
Body Density lvl 1- 7.5 blood
World's Knowledge lvl 1- ???
Tier 2:
One With Acid lvl 2- 4191.5 blood
Regular:
Tier 1:
Demonic Regeneration lvl 7- 82.8 blood
Heightened Perception lvl 4- 24.5 blood
Earthen Sense lvl 1- 7.5 blood
Sticky Slime lvl 1- 7.5 blood
Tier 2:
Pain Nullification lvl 6- 67352 blood
Thinking about my blood bank, the skills cost showed up. Many were within the budget, but a few were too expensive. Especially Pain Nullification! Why did it almost cost seventy thousand blood to upgrade! With the amount of blood that the creatures I have faced have given me, it would take an eternity to get that much blood, and my capacity was not high enough for it either!
The other sight that confused me was that of the cost of World's Knowledge and Gluttony. The skills both had an unknown amount, where the number should have been, and when trying to upgrade, it would keep declining. Not sure of why the skills cost was unknown, I moved on.
Sighing, that will hopefully change as I grow stronger. Looking at the available skills, my blood bank had enough blood to upgrade only two skills to level 2 or one to level 4. Another option was to bring a level 1 skill to level 3. Looking at my options, it's hard to decide which skills to upgrade. They were all decent.
Sticky Slime lvl 1- 7.5 blood
Earthen Sense lvl 1- 7.5 blood
Body Density lvl 1- 7.5 blood
Gelatinous Form lvl 3- 17 blood
Those were my only options, but picking through the four choices was nearly impossible. Each skill had its own benefits and served a certain purpose. Some would be necessary in one situation while being useless in the other. It was a tough decision.
Sticky Slimewas great for keeping my enemies near me while I digested them. It caused the creatures to get stuck in my acidic slime, which had been very effective against the recent slimes. But against stronger foes, the skill at level 1 may not be enough. Thinking about the benefits for a moment, I decided to give it a little more thought and check out the other options.
Earthen Sense was great as well... and after testing it out for a while, I noticed that it allowed me to sense the vibrations of creatures up to thirty meters away if the vibrations that they created were strong enough. Being able to detect monsters sooner before they attack would be amazing as well. If it were to level up, I wonder how much of a difference it would create.
Next was Body Density, which was acquired just recently and seemed very useful. It strengthened my body evenly, making me more durable all around, and it also allowed my attacks to pack a greater punch without losing speed. Unlike Sticky Slime and Earthen Sense, Body Density gave me a flat percentage increase. I was not sure if it would increase by exactly 10%, but even if it was higher or lower, it was an excellent skill.
Out of all the skills, Gelatinous Form was the highest-level one I could upgrade, and it is definitely worth considering. My gelatin was strong to begin with and could form jelly spikes. Even though at my current level, only one spike could form, and its stability was not very high, it was still very powerful.
Looking over my options again, my decision was made. Focusing on Body Density, I upgraded it to level 2
Body Density lvl 1-> 2
Feeling the increase instantly, my body grew stronger, weighing more, and I adjusted to the phenomenon. My speed stayed the same, and I could tell the skill did, in fact, increase my density by 10% again. Taking a few steps, the grass beneath my feet crumpled, flattening itself against the dirt. Walking up to a new, and not destroyed, tree, punching it, and causing the hardwood to concave where it had been struck. Grabbing onto the tree, realizing that my grip strength had increased as well. This skill was truly fantastic.
Looking at my Demon System again, my blood had reduced from 24 to 16.5, and the skill Body Density increased in price. Now it costs 11.3 blood. The increase was not dramatic, but it was scaling. Still, I'm not sure how Pain Nullification lvl 6 was so expensive—looking at the number, crying out for a moment.
Finally, for my second skill upgrade. Only three options remained now...
Sticky Slime lvl 1- 7.5 blood
Earthen Sense lvl 1- 7.5 blood
Body Density lvl 2- 11.3 blood
Gelatinous Form was out of the question now, since I was only just .5 blood away from being able to upgrade it, but truly, it could wait; the skill was already very useful. Thinking about the options, I focused my attention on Earthen Sense.
Sticky Slime was useful, but it was not fully necessary, and with the monsters I was currently facing, level 1 was enough for now. And since I had just levelled up Body Density, I thought it was strong for my level.
With Earthen Sense, on the other hand, even being able to detect a monster a few seconds earlier could be very helpful. If something dangerous were approaching, then it would either give me time to prepare or flee. The skill was also useful for finding creatures to kill, revealing their locations and allowing me to gauge whether they might be too strong for me. It was the perfect skill for tracking and levelling up.
Earthen Sense lvl 1->2
The skill levelled up, and to test it out, I shut my eyes. The vibrations travelled through the ground into my feet and up my legs into my body. They were clearer to me now, giving me a general size of the creature instead of a vague outline. The radius of my body's ability to sense vibrations had increased as well, now reaching at least 40 meters.
Using the new skill, I found the location of some small creatures that were deeper in the forest. There were around two of them. Feeling the animals, my eyes opened, and my legs started to move towards them, following the vibrations. The creatures finally came into vision. There were two small furry creatures with long ears. They were eating the grass in the middle of a small clearing, beams of light illuminating the animals. Examining them closely, I used World's Knowledge lvl 1 to identify the small furballs.
Aurelion Bunny lvl 1
Aurelion Bunny lvl 1
They were both level 1 and the same species. Wondering if they would give me any unique skills, I approached the small creatures slowly. Crouching down, my hand turned into crimson slime before transforming into a spike. Gradually getting closer to the bunnies, my body breached a bush that had kept me concealed.
With the rustling of the bush, both of the small creatures made direct eye contact with me, making me freeze instantly. Their beady eyes stared daggers at me, neither of them blinking once. With a slight movement from me, the bunnies bolted off. They moved far faster than the slimes and were even faster than I was.
Reaching out and trying to stab the bunnies ended up in a disaster. Missing the creatures caused me to lose balance and fall on my face, my acidic arm burning an outline in the ground. Letting out a breath, I looked up into the sky. The sight was amazing; the rays of light that had filled the view a mere few moments ago had vanished. In their place was a dazzling darkness.
The giant fireball in the sky had disappeared, now being replaced by a massive rock. The rock was much closer than the ball of fire, filling up almost the entire night sky. The rock had many holes in it, but it was not colourless. It was covered in water, with greenery, massive oceans, and forests visible on its surface.
Small flickering lights also appeared across the landscape, causing the massive rock to glow slightly in the darkness. A dazzling ring of thousands, if not millions, of massive boulders also surrounded the rock. Each one was a unique colour, and it seemed like a rainbow surrounded the massive rock.
The rock took up the majority of the sky, but in the spots where it did not cover, small dancing lights beamed. Each one was so small. But also so beautiful. There were countless tiny lights. They filled the endless abyss above with light. My eyes sparkled as they sighted me. Looking at certain lights, it seemed as if they created pictures. What they made was unknown to me, but they sure were such a wonderful sight to behold.
My eyes watered for a moment as I remembered the sky that was above my home world. It was just an endless darkness filled with horrifying monsters. The only light ever appearing in it was violent bolts of red lightning. Shivering for a moment, my hand reached up towards the massive rock, with tears flowing down my cheek. Looking upon the massive rock, my hand shut tight into a fist.
I will not waste this...