The Demon Pet System spoke:

[Kenji: (6/10 pts - level 9)]

[Hikigotsu: (4/7 pts - level 7)]

[Current quests:]

[Cultivate your dragon skills and spirit for one week: ongoing]

[Forge a new weapon: ongoing]

Digging up the mud and taking advantage of the moonlight to be visible, Yoichi's System showed him the statistics of the two demons that had taken part in the last fight.

"Hikigotsu? Is that the name of this strange lumpy frog?" Yoichi asked to himself, looking at the greenish Demon Tooth with interest.

The surface of the spine that allowed the demons to be captured was damaged due to the extensive injuries sustained during the fight. Inside of it, the Hikigotsu's body was healing its wounds.

"That's it? Can't I get any more information? What type is it? What is its ability?" Yoichi thought aloud as if he wanted to talk to the entity that was creating those blood writings, digging them into the mud and drawing them onto the wood.

From the Demon Pet System, no response.

Kenji has received four more XP points and will be leveling up before long. This lonely journey might also be a good way to farm XP points, the young tamer thought.

The last two quests he had received were still active, and as he made his way to Oakenfair and tried to complete the weapon quest, he was constantly thinking about what he would have to face the next morning.

According to his promise to Therion, he would go in search of the first of the Guardians of the Whole and defeat it to increase his draconic powers. Although Yoichi planned to rest his weary body during that night, circumstances had forced him to flee from Goldhaven and move away from the Dojo, the ideal place to rest.

He looked at the mud-covered road and tried to get his gaze to the end of the swamp, but without success. The Boneside Swamp stretched for many miles and its trees covered the horizon, masking the vegetation behind and the hills on which the Bronzeforest grew.

Content with only the name of the newly captured demon, Yoichi stepped on the mud writing, preparing to set off again. "Hikigotsu... a level 7 Hikigotsu. Well, not bad," he whispered, thinking back to the fact that he had finally managed to capture a demon on his own.

"I wonder if the other wild demons were on the same level. They seemed very aggressive to me, that's true, but none of them bothered Kenji" he added, hoping he had chosen the right specimen and reasoning about that important detail.

Each zone and biome was marked by a different range of demons belonging to various types and of various shapes and sizes. However, their combat levels, judging from what he had learned from the book entitled 'Fundametals of Demon Taming' were also divided according to zones.

Having tamed a level 7 wild demon meant that the Boneside Swamp was home to demons with a similar level. For this very reason, a young and inexperienced tamer like him could not go into every area of the world: some areas on the edge of Tentochu were dangerous due to the very high level of their wild demons.

If Yoichi had entered an area with demons of level 30 or higher with his team, he would have lasted only a few minutes before being slaughtered. As a result, areas that contained higher-level demons also featured higher-level dungeons, a higher chance of running into rare demons, and more hidden relics and loot.

The goal of each Demon Tamer, in addition to fighting on the front lines for their faction, was to travel, boost their team's mid-level and delve into those dangerous areas.

"Ildriss!" Yoichi boomed, recalling Kenji back to the inside of his chest. The little dragon's trail of fire dissolved upon contact with the front of his leather armor, turning into a tingle along his ribs and through his internal organs.

Yoichi knew that if he wanted to complete both quests entrusted to him by the Demon Pet System to return to Ambershire in time to meet Shioko and Sui, he would have to find a quiet place to meditate and cultivate his powers in the Tear.

After summoning Ichiro, he scrupulously checked in the saddlebags, verifying that all his stuff was still there, especially the amphora containing the world's most precious fluid.

If Ichiro had been defeated or his Demon Tooth had been stolen, the amphora and Ryutaro's tomes could have ended up in the wrong hands, with disastrous consequences for his fate as a tamer.

"Let's go, buddy. There's no more time to waste. We'll travel north for another couple of hours, hoping to find a shelter that will give us some peace," the young tamer said, talking to Ichiro and explaining their plan of action.

Behind them, the crossroad had now disappeared, and the bulky plants of the swamp made Yoichi's sense of direction less effective. Together with his Inoshuma, he continued north, following the moonlit road and avoiding the darkest corners of the forest.

Strange noises came from the trees and ponds: that place, though bleak and dilapidated, teemed with life. If experienced travelers like Enatsu or Shioko had been with him, they could have explained the secrets of that swamp or simply shown him the shortest way out.

The road dug into the ground continued to follow the natural morphology of the land and rose uphill, branching off into many smaller roads that followed completely different directions.

Yoichi stopped Ichiro and made a brief stop at one of the spots where the white moonlight could filter through the trees. He opened the map and noticed that a simple dotted line popped up beyond the inkblot, marking none of those small muddy roads.

"Fuck. Now what?" he muttered, trying to listen to his instincts to figure out what the shortest way out of there was. How many more miles did the swamp extend for? The road drawn on the map that separated the Boneside Swamp from the village of Oakenfair was a long one, and perhaps another two days of uninterrupted travel would be necessary to reach his final destination.