“Something’s not right…”

“What is it?”

“Didn’t you notice? We lost Soul Search when we acquired this body, do you know why Mephis?”

After burying the old lady, Lucifer was sitting at the entrance of the temple, where he buried her. There was a reason for it. Lucifer wanted to find a suitable location for her, but who would have thought that her temple was in such a dangerous place. He hadn’t even been 100 meters away from the entrance that his danger awareness was telling him to go back if he wanted to live.

He didn’t know why, but it seemed that the wilderness had developed itself around the temple and made the surrounding area brimming with monsters. And for someone with Lucifer’s capabilities, this was no different than giving a newborn child a wooden stick and sending him in a troll’s village.

“No… But we might be able to regain it. Just try to do a soul search.”

“Yes, I’ll try.”

Lucifer sat on the cold ground cross-legged. His breath was long but powerful as his mind was sinking into the depth of his body, looking for his soul.

Darkness was surrounding him until he found it. A raging black and violet flame.

Looking at it, Lucifer felt something strange. His heartbeat was accelerating while killing intent was seeping from his body.

“These are… Their feelings?”

The violet taint of his soul was due to Slaughter and Chaos legacies. Their power which had become his. However, that wasn’t everything.

Lucifer approached his soul, being few centimeters away from it, he stretched out his hand to touch it.

A sudden burst of pain happened in his head, making him lose his focus and expulsing him from that place.

“AAAAHHHHH”

Lucifer and Mephistopheles both screamed in pain. While holding his head with his two hands, Lucifer rolled on the ground.

This suffering lasted for only a few dozens of seconds before it stopped brutally, leaving a tired Lucifer on the ground, breathing heavily.

System Host's body is too weak. Assimilation with the memories of the fallen gods failed. Trying again in this state may lead to Host's body early death.

Feeling dizzy, Lucifer opened his eyes and paled when he saw the message. This little experience made him understand many things about his current situation.

It isn’t that he lost Soul Search when he entered this new body, he lost control over his soul to some extent due to the legacies and couldn’t use it to scan the surrounding like he did back in that place. Furthermore, it seemed that he couldn’t get the full control over it anytime soon. According to the pain he suffered, if he had to be able to withstand it in order to assimilate those memories, he wouldn’t be able to do it before a long time.

Lucifer’s heart sank. Soul search was something which could have helped him greatly. With it, he could detect every soul in the surrounding and prevent any type of disastrous encounters.

“Living here will be complicated… We don’t know how much we can survive without eating and drinking but I doubt we can last long. But… Leaving the temple ground is also suicide…”

Mephis' voice resounded in Lucifer’s mind.

Lucifer could only nod in agreement. In a way or another, it seemed that monsters wouldn’t get close to the temple ground. However, there wasn’t anything to eat or drink here.

He had unlocked a danger awareness which could help him but it was limited. At best, he could tell whether or not he was in a dangerous situation, he couldn’t tell where his enemy was or if it had detected him. He was a blind man who had been thrown into a pit of monsters. Aware that he was deep in shit, but unable to tell when he was about to die.

“We need to leave. But before that, we have to unlock the hunter class.”

“I thought about that too but… You know… We don’t have anybody to bestow us the class and we don’t know about the conditions…”

“Let’s try everything! We ca try to set up traps and craft a bow and some arrows and see if it amounts to anything.”

“Yeah… I just hope that we don’t have to hunt anything as a condition…”

Cold sweat ran down Lucifer’s back. Forget about being the hunter, he would be happy if he wasn’t the hunted one.

Suddenly an earth-shattering cry resounded in the sky.

Lucifer jumped in surprise and covered his ears.

This was clearly a monster’s cry. Lucifer’s danger awareness was screaming in his head as if it was a little girl being violated by a big bad wolf.

When the beast finally stopped roaring. Lucifer finally dared to look up toward the sky.

Fear. Extreme fear.

A gigantic being was hovering hundreds of meters above him, covered in black scale, his wings covering a portion of the sky, the crimson eyes of the dragon was shining with power, filled with disdain toward everything.

Don’t move, don’t breath, don’t move, don’t breath…

Lucifer was trying his all to not be any different than a piece of stone to the dragon.

He knew about them. Only people with high blessings, divine gears and at least 3 high leveled class could be a match with them. Those people had stats which were close to 4 digits each. Thus, let alone fighting it, if the dragon peed on him he could die.

“What the fuck is this place?! A dragon?! Where did Slaughter build her fucking temple?!”

System Location unknown to the Host.

“…”

Lucifer didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. Mephis was arguing with the System while he was trying with all his might to be considered as air by the dragon.

The dragon drew circles in the sky as if looking for something for few minutes before it ultimately left. However, Lucifer didn’t relax one bit. His danger awareness was still screaming in his head.

A minute hadn’t even passed that multiple dragons of different colors flew above him, heading in the same direction as the black dragon.

“This… Are dragons a common thing now? I thought they were legendary beings!”

Lucifer cursed in his mind when he saw them too.

A person could consider himself lucky if he saw a dragon in his life and came back alive. However, seeing a plethora of them and staying alive was akin to being Luck herself.

System Luck +1

“…”

//

“So, did you found out anything?”

A white-clothed woman asked the standing yellow man in front of her after sipping her drink.

“Not really. This new energy is very strange and can challenge our divine power. Furthermore, it seems that it's growing at a faster rate with each second. By now, it should had gained such a size that there is as much of it as there is of divine power.”

The white clothed woman face turned grim.

What is father thinking? A new energy which can oppose us?

“Did you find out if mortals could wield it?”

“No. It seems that they aren’t compatible with it. The divine power in them seems to prevent it from entering them.”

This is really strange… Father wouldn’t have created something useless. Humpf, he did give it a try with that little soul but now it's gone. What can he be planning…

“Thanks. You can leave. Tell the others to inform their followers to report to us if they see anyone using unknown energy or magic.”

“Yes. However, there is another I wish to talk about.”

“Please speak.”

The yellow clothed man closed his eyes and reopened them with and a hint of fierceness in them.

“This is the first time in history that all gods have a Chosen in the same generation. Though they are still children, I don’t dare to doubt that they will be able to grow. However, Life/Death is still missing. And we know that he also has a Chosen who should be 5 years old by now. He hadn’t chosen a side yet. His power isn’t something we can ignore, we need to hunt down those who belongs to his sect now before it's too late…”

“No need. Unlike Slaughter, Life/Death is a pacifist. We already killed many members of his church but he didn’t even retaliate, he even fled this realm. We managed to get rid of Slaughter, but killing Life/Death won’t be as easy. We don’t have any idea about his strength either. Though he should be weaker than me, I can’t say that fighting him would result in no casualties.”

The white clothed woman gave a meaningful look at the man. The latter’s lips twitch but he didn’t say anything. He just bowed his head and left in a space crack.

Being left alone, the white-clothed woman closed her eyes and went slowly to sleep.

I’m waiting for your next move, Father.

//

The sun was setting down in the horizon, leaving the temple ground in the shadows of the trees surrounding it.

System {Stealth} has been successfully learned.

After the dragons left, Lucifer felt, even more, the need to leave this place and find a town or a village. Anything was fine as long as it was far from here.

However, Lucifer felt that with his current abilities, everything could kill him here. And in order to leave, he had no other way than passing through the forest. Thus, the only way for him to make it through was to not get discovered by any of those monsters dwelling in there.

Hopefully, he remembered the teaching of his father and managed to learn Stealth in few hours. Back then, it took him a week before he learned it, but since he had already grasped how the spell worked, he thought that this was the reason it was easier.

“With this, we should have a higher chance of surviving…”

“…”

Mephis remained silent for some reason, but Lucifer didn’t mind it, and just tried to cast {Stealth} on himself but nothing happened.

System Host doesn't have enough mana.

“…”

“You didn’t notice but you wasted all our mana with your few attempts… At least you managed to learn the skill, so we can use it without fail now.”

“This… I didn’t notice but now that you say it… I was able to try more than before. Having 200 mana sure is a different thing… I wonder how much time is needed for my mana to replenish itself.”

System 3 hours and 20 minutes are needed for a full recovery.

“… The System is quite talkative.”

System Host's devil power is only compatible with me. Other System can't interact with you. So, the Creator made me your personal assistant.

“So that was the reason… But, who is that Creator?”

System I can't answer that question.

Mephis felt dejected when he heard that. He really wanted to know who was behind that name. The one who is supposed to be at the origin of everything.

“System… Do you know a way to accelerate the mana recovery?”

System I don’t know. Besides few things which the Creator gave me, my knowledge isn’t too different from the Host. I can only advise Host to try to consider mana as devil’s power and try to forcefully suck it from the surrounding. However, I am unable to help you during the process or tell you that it will be successful.

Lucifer wasn’t too satisfied with that answer. He had hoped that he could cheat his way out that situation and have the System teach him skills since it was supposed to be his assistant.

“But, what is the difference between you and the others beside the things you said?”

System I can answer some of your questions. Systems only speak to their Host when something happened to their status page, no more no less. However, I am different. I am intelligent and can remember for my Host everything for him and answer his questions as long as he heard or knew the answer before. I can also guide him if it is within my capabilities.

Lucifer and Mephis were dumbstruck when they read this. They knew that the System was acting differently compared to their previous life, but they never expected that it would be to that extent. This System would be a great supporting tool for them in the future.

Thinking about something, Lucifer sighed again.

The night was coming, and he was out of mana. He could already feel the need to eat and drink, but there was nothing he could do about it.

“We need to find some fruits. They are our best option right now.”

Mephis voice responded to his concerns. However, it didn’t change a certain fact. He needed to venture into the forest to find some fruits. Though there was no need to kill them in most cases, if he stumbled upon any kind of monster in there, those fruits would be the death of both of them.

“I need to try to recover some mana before. With {Stealth} grade 10, we can use it for an hour or so with 200 mana I think. And we clearly need to be stealthy during the whole process… The moment we run out of mana…”

System I should remind the Host that {Stealth} grade 10 does make your body invisible but doesn’t erase your breathing, heat, and sound when you will be moving. Thus, monsters who are used to hunt will probably see through it.

“…”

“I knew we were in a pinch but this…”

“We gained +1 Luck earlier… Let’s try it out…”

System If Host intends to go on a suicide mission based on luck, I wish for Host to reconsider.

Lucifer gave a wry smile when he saw this, but he couldn’t hesitate anymore.

He sat cross legged and closed his eyes. He needed to be in a calm state and feel his surroundings.

He entered a deep state and found himself in the same darkness where he found his soul. However, he wasn’t looking for that.

He wished to see every ounce of energy surrounding him. Feel their movements and variation.

Until he saw. Three threads of different colors hovering around his body. One was golden, one black and the last one was translucid. He already knew the origin of the black thread, but what he was looking for wasn’t that. He tried to touch the golden thread but felt extreme pain the moment his fingers grazed it.

Divine power… I really am not compatible with that.

To calm the pain he felt, Lucifer tried to gather some of those black thread into his palm. However, they didn’t act like he wished and instead fled his approaching hand.

Flabbergasted, Lucifer looked at his hand and found some faint traces of divine power on his finger trying to enter his body forcefully by preventing the devil’s power from entering and trying to expulse the one that was already within.

Lucifer’s soul sent a wave of devil’s power to his hand and completely got rid of any divine power on it.

This thing is acting like a corroding poison for me…

Lucifer’s eyes flickered with a hint of killing intent.

Everything owned by the gods wants me dead… Let’s see who will be killed in the end.

The black threads which were reluctant to come near Lucifer’s hand at first suddenly stopped before rushing toward him like hungry wolves on a hopeless lamb.

System Devil’s power increased. 224/999 999 999 System System: Host has learned a new aptitude. Devil Absorption. Devil Absorption In an ethereal state, the user can speed up his devil’s power regeneration by directly absorbing it. +2 perception

Only this much? Well, the aptitude is great, a gain in perception is very welcomed. This will improve my detection range in the forest and hopefully it would be enough.

After regenerating some devil’s power and relieving the pain he felt, Lucifer stretched his hand towards the translucid threads.

A very warm feeling invaded his hand as it was being surrounded by those threads.

System Host has learned a new aptitude. Mana Absorption. Mana Absorption In an ethereal state, the user can speed up his mana recovery by directly absorbing it. +1 perception.

The bonus is weaker… I wonder why

Lucifer gathered as much mana as he could.

When he opened his eyes, he could see that he had managed to recover most of his mana.

System 164/200 mana.

After stretching his body, Lucifer started to ponder on how he should proceed from here and what he should do if he could manage to get out of this place.

“Something’s strange…”

“What is it Mephis?”

“Didn’t you notice? When we tried to touch the divine thread, it didn’t run away, however, when we were tainted by it, the devil thread wouldn’t come close to our hand. Don’t you find this strange?”

“Now that you mention it… System do you know why?”

System No.

Looking at his tiny hands, Lucifer tried to find an explanation but couldn’t come up with anything.

The only thing I can think of is that it was unnatural. Something or someone must have caused this thread to act strangely.

After shaking his head, Lucifer decided to stop thinking about it.

I hope that I have enough mana…

A thing light veil started to form on his bare skin, turning his body invisible. With determination in his eyes, Lucifer went towards this green maze, under the glimmer of the setting sun.

15 minutes later.

Powerful cries could be heard in the vicinity. Two beasts were fighting against each other.

On one side was a gigantic silver crystal wolf. Its black fur was harder than steel while looking smoother than silk. White crystals were growing on its back, known for their high density in mana. Those crystals are the reason why those wolves are renowned. Not only are they empowering the wolves by greatly boosting their physical capabilities but they are also known as very good magic resources for alchemists and magic engineering. But, their might made them monsters which monsters which couldn’t be hunted at will. Only very skilled people would dare to come into their territories to kill one. Those wolves would rarely venture alone, and it would be even less likely to find one alone in a dangerous place.

However, this wolf had one of its eyes gouged out and blood was coming out from its eye socket and mouth. It had been greatly injured, and there were no signs of one of his kin in the surroundings, meaning that he was most likely alone. But its enemy wasn’t in a better shape as well.

The silver crystal wolf was facing a huge azure snake. Its bloodshot eyes were fiercely looking at the silver crystal wolf. Its body had deep wounds which were leaking a greenish smoke and blood. This type of snake usually lives in a region where they could find an abundant amount of water. Their species could use mana and be particularly strong with water and ice magic.

Both of those monsters were glaring at each other, waiting for their opponent’s next move to attack.

Meanwhile, behind a nearby tree, Lucifer was looking at his mana going down each minute which passed.

Please do something! If you guys want to fight, go fight somewhere else!

System I advise the Host to not get found out, otherwise an unwanted situation may arise.

“Oh really?!”

Mephis exasperated voice resounded in Lucifer’s head while the latter was trying his hardest to keep his breathing calm and bend it to the wind.

Shut up you two!

Beads of sweat were starting to form on Lucifer’s head. Despite the temperature being relatively low and him being naked, his body didn’t feel cold at all, but the complete opposite.

He was feeling the abundant amount of mana coming from those two beasts and it was heating up the place.

I need to do something… If they decide to come over here and notice my presence, they’ll kill me for sure.

However, unknown to Lucifer, those two monsters had already sensed his presence. The only reason he was still alive was because neither of those two monsters could afford to bother about him. They could feel his fear and strength. If they wanted to kill him, it would be only a matter of seconds, however, if one turned around to kill him, the other one would use this opening and strike.

Looking at those monsters which hadn’t moved an inch, Lucifer’s expression turned gloomy. He hadn’t even found anything edible yet so his hunger was growing. The system had already told him during their journey here that as a homunculus, he was very humanlike while being entirely different.

His body was 6 years old and would stop aging at the age of 25. His blood was more powerful than humans. For those who used blood, the strength of their blood would be essential. The reason was that, when their control would be good enough for them to manipulate others’ blood, they wouldn’t be able to do so one people with blood which is more powerful than theirs.

The strength of a blood type depended on the bloodline and the endurance stat points. A human bloodline with 100 endurance would have a weaker blood than a dragon with 100 endurance, by how much, the System didn’t know.

And the particularity of the homunculus was that its blood depended on what it could absorb. A homunculus can have multiple bloodlines with the maximum being three. Thus, with his Dragon King bloodline, Lucifer was well off. However, his stats were still too low and he was still too young.

In a few words, homunculus could be considered as advanced humans on that aspect. On the other aspect, they could be considered similar. Thus, he could really die of hunger if things went on.

Let’s try that…

Time was ticking and his mana was running out.

With a dried throat, mana started to condense in his hand before taking the shape of a short bow.