Volume 3: Sealed World

Mark of the Wild

“How is your progress with storage rings, Jake?” Elena asked.

“I managed to create a fixed void, with the size of one cubic meter in a small stone. That’s the biggest I can create at the moment. I tried using other materials, but be it a branch, a stone, the material didn’t matter and the space within always turned into one cubic meter. Creating a separate space which doesn’t need my Mana is really hard.”

“It’s fine. One cubic meter is more than enough for most things and we have a bigger ring too.”

“Mhm. By the way, Audrey can change the flow of time in the void I create. It’s nothing much, but once she learns more about Time Magic, I’m sure that she’d be able to even freeze time.”

“Ugh, that’s definitely not something I can learn quickly,” Audrey grumbled when hearing Jake’s positiveness.

“It’s fine. Elena, have you decided on the matter pertaining to the Ring of Calamity?” Jake asked with interest. Since she saw Shin wear the Eighth Ring of Calamity and use it, she couldn’t help but think about wearing the First Ring of Calamity.

“I haven’t yet. He used it even though the rings are supposed to be used only once. This makes me think that maybe we misunderstood the meaning of the ‘one-time use’. Maybe it isn’t related to the effects of the rings, but their owner. Maybe only one person can wear it. Once it is used, you can’t get rid of it without destroying the ring.”

“Why don’t you wear it and try it out?” Cor asked.

“Don’t be stupid. What if this ring you made disappeared with some random effect? It’s a legendary equipment. I can’t just risk wasting it. Unless you remember something from your past?” Elena raised a brow as she turned around on Dred’s back and looked into Cor’s eyes.

“I don’t, but I have a hunch that you can use it. Based on the descriptions, all of the eight rings are the same, just with different effects. If Shin could use it, then you too can do it. I’m sure. You can give it to me too and I’ll wear it if you don’t dare.”

“Are you trying to affect me by messing with me? I won’t jump into your trap just so you know,” Elena crossed her arms and turned ahead.

“...”

“Fine, but I’ll make you wear that ring one day, damn it. Maybe I’d remember more,” he tried to change her mind one last time with no success. Sighing loudly, he turned silent and watched the snow-covered scenery instead.

“Should I really try it?” Elena asked Dred.

“I don’t know either. Maybe you should really try it. Cor definitely wouldn’t want something bad to happen to us. He is obliged to serve us, after all. And I don’t think that he, as the creator, has a bad divination pertaining the ring.”

“Ah, screw it! Land somewhere and I’ll wear this shitty ring! I don’t care anymore!” Elena shouted, grabbing the sides of her head.

“Great!” Cor exclaimed with a happy face, hearing her sudden shout. After landing on the ground, Elena took out the ring with the red crystal in it from her storage ring and after looking at it for a few seconds, she closed her eyes and placed it on her finger.

Her Mana entered the ring and a red halo formed around her body. She felt her body scorching hot for a few seconds before it died down and she once again looked completely normal. Looking at the effects of the ring, she saw the following.

First Ring of Calamity

Ring of Fire, controls the lava below the ground. You can call forth volcanic eruptions wherever you are. Their scale and effectiveness are unpredictable. (Effective on the following planets: Dink, Dunk, Sealu)

“That’s amazing, though useless. Unless we want to cause mass destruction,” Elena commented with a sense of disappointment in her voice.

“Well, I too can cause mass destruction with Supernova. It’s just that I couldn’t use it last time since we didn’t want to kill everyone,” Audrey replied.

Grabbing the ring on her finger, Elena tried to pull it off, only to realize that it wouldn’t budge. It felt like her second skin.

Warning!

This item can’t be removed without destroying it. The owner’s death would mean the destruction of the item too.

“So that’s why it is can be used only once…” Elena raised her voice in realisation.

“Heh, it really didn’t work, right? Don’t trust me next time,” Cor said with a sarcastic tone.

Elena’s eyes twitched upon hearing him, but she stayed silent nonetheless. Feeling dissatisfied with her lack of reaction, Cor leaned so close to her that their faces were separated only by a few inches. “Right?” he asked with a grin on his face.

*twitch*

“Oh, well. I can’t be trusted-”

“Haah- can’t you just shut up already? I’ve got it already so be quiet or I’ll tell Dred to bite you.”

“It would be my honour!” Cor raised his voice.

“Huh? What’s wrong with this guy?” Dred shook his head, hiding his teeth instead.

“It feels good when you bite me. Maybe because you’re my master,” Cor said with an excited voice.

“S-Sure…” Dred said. This guy is freaking me out sometimes…

Clearing his throat, Jake interrupted them, “Can we get back to the point? So, what do you plan to do now? Do you want to enter the city nearby or should we go tomorrow instead? We had been travelling for ten days already and we have no idea where we are. Don’t you think that we should stop and gather some information?”

“I wanted to do that. I wouldn’t mind sleeping in a peaceful city either, the monsters attacking at night is really annoying. I haven’t had a good sleep ever since we left behind Thivalon,” Elena nodded her head.

“Maybe if you wouldn’t…” Audrey started but didn’t finish her words.

“I wouldn’t what?” Elena raised a brow.

Stepping closer, Audrey whispered into her ear, “You are too loud sometimes. I understand that your love is budding, but you should restrain yourself a bit.”

Clearing her throat, Elena said, “I understand. I-I’ll go to the city alone and gather some info. I’ll be back in an hour. Do whatever you want till then.”

“You can’t be serious…” Dred muttered as he transformed into his demon form, grabbed her waist and threw her on his shoulder. “I’m going with you.”

“Put me down you brute! I need to escape!”

“Heh, I heard Audrey’s words. Don’t underestimate my ears. It’s nothing to be ashamed of!”

“It’s easy for you to say! But I’m not like you!”

“What are they talking about?” Jake and Cor asked at the same time.

“Nothing…” Audrey muttered dismissively.

“Alright. We will be back in an hour at most! If not, then something happened and we need help or we will be back later,” Dred’s voice resounded in the forest as he jumped into the air, towards the city. He landed a few hundred meters away and jumped once again.

“For how long do you plan to keep me on your shoulder?” Elena complained.

Dred switched position and held her in his arms, “Here you go. Is it better now?”

“It is better, but you could have put me on the ground too.”

“Isn’t it fine? I wanna hold you in my arms. I haven’t had the chance in a while.”

“You did it last night, though?”

“Well, but not in this lovely way~” Dred mused as he gave a kiss on her forehead.

Elena looked into his eyes with a burning gaze and raised her head to kiss him. But since Dred was too focused on Elena, he stumbled over a rock and fell face first to the ground, Elena under him.

He spat out a mouthful of grass and mud as he raised his body.

Elena sprawled out on the ground and looked at the starry night sky. Seeing Dred’s mud-covered face, a hearty laughter broke out of her. “Hahaha, you look so silly. Ugh, my arms are numb…”

“I’m sorry.”

“It’s fine. Let’s go.”

“Mhm.”

Elena brushed off the snow from her body walked towards the city. Looking at her swaying hips, Dred felt his animalistic instincts raging inside him, but he held back himself. At least, I can practice this kind of control too. If I can do it, other men too should be able to do it.

Dred caught up with her and walked so close to her their shoulders bumped into each other every so often. “Elena… I have something to tell you.”

“What is it? You don’t have to be so stiff, am I not your girlfriend?”

“Yeah, yeah. It’s just that I created a spell, but it’s got a really vicious nature.”

“Oh? I didn’t even know about this.”

“Well, I didn’t want to talk about it because of its nature.”

“Tsk, for how long will you stay silent? You made me darn curious now…”

“Fine. I call it Mark of the Wild and the World System recognized it as a spell. You know, since I’m a beast-type, I need less sleep than you, actually. So in this last month, when everyone fell asleep, I started experimenting on insects. Cor doesn’t even sleep so he caught me quite quickly, but he reacted well and helped me instead.”

“Haha, why that face? Stop being so impatient.”

“But I want to know what it does!”

Dred patted the top of her head before continuing, “Since I too drank your blood, I understand how Ekilsta works and I understand how Devour works. We knew that our shadows can devour other people and steal their DNA to change ours and improve our bodies, but we didn’t understand how.”

“I started devouring insects slowly with my spell and realized that it’s very similar to your bacteria. It fills your target’s body forcefully and encloses their cells. Since it is Dark Magic, in a way, it makes every cell rot. The twist is that as long as the target is alive, their Magical Resistance is active and we can’t draw out their DNA. Thanks to your specialization, the World System probably helps you a tiny bit and lets you slowly devour your targets, even if they are alive.”

“So this made me realize that Devour might have more uses than we thought. You see, I’m stronger than you. So I thought that what if I made a spell that can share my DNA with others to improve your body. Sure, we can share our memories and knowledge, but not our DNA. Even though it is working on the same basis. So I bit a few weaker and bigger monsters and tried to send my DNA into their bodies, instead of sucking them dry.”

“And what was the result?” she asked.

“Ehm, it was a half-success… Although I was able to share my DNA, the monsters mutated and turned into strange looking creatures. I didn’t notice that their strength increased either and I even got a notification saying that my spell creating failed.”

“Cor told me that I’d have to be in control of the recipient’s body to control my spell until the last moment. Our subconscious would refuse to let anyone’s Mana into our bodies if it wasn’t our, so that was a no-go either. There was only one possibility. Turn my target into my slave and control my spell to the highest degree.”

“I have a guess where this is going,” Elena commented.

“Mhm. I have the following possibilities regarding Mark of the Wild. The first is to use it on my blood servants. The second is to force my Mana into my target’s body, but this could turn them into a vegetable. The third is to use a similar creature like Ekilsta to betray the mind and let my Mana into my target’s body. Here comes the twist. Unlike humans, we can control our subconscious and let other people’s Mana into our bodies.”

“So the fourth possibility is that you willingly let me in and turn into my slave by receiving my DNA. Since I’d be a part of you, maybe I’d be able to control your body too. I tested it on an insect by forcing my Mana into it. It did whatever I told it.”

Stopping in place, Elena looked his way as she asked, “And so, do you want to use it on me?”

“I’m not sure. It would be nice to improve your strength too, but I don’t want to change you. I love you as you are. I don’t want to ‘enslave’ you either, even if would never command you to do anything. It’s different with Audrey, Cor, and Jake since they are our blood servants anyway. They would literally just get an upgrade in strength and agility. But you’re an equal of me on every ground.”

“If I used this spell on you, that would change. Not on a logical level, but on a physical level.” Stepping closer, he embraced her body and started caressing the back of her head. “What do you think?” he whispered into her ear.

Raising her hands, she returned the favour and closed her eyes. “Hehe, you are like a big bear.”

“I do have a bear form.”

“I know~ So you plan to use it on our friends and you aren’t sure about me.”

“Mhm.”

“I’m sad to tell you that I’m unsure either. The idea of being controlled by anyone is terrifying. Except for Cor, who didn’t even know who he was when he drank your blood, and maybe he didn’t even understand what it clearly meant, Audrey and Jake were tricked into it. While I have to choose now, even though I don’t have memory loss and I know what could happen.”

“But I also completely trust you and know that you would never command me.”

“Mhm.”

“In that case, what if we got closer to each other than ever before?”

“What do you mean?” Dred raised his head to look into her eyes.

“Is it a hard-to-learn spell?”

“No. You can definitely do it on your first try. Second at most,” Dred shook his head.

“Then what if we both used it on each other? That wouldn’t change a thing but we would still gain the benefits,” she said with a smile.

“...Hahaha, how I never thought of this. Thanks,” he said before giving her a deep kiss. Elena bit his tongue and drank his blood. As her mind finished being filled up with the details, a window appeared in front of her.

New Skill Acquired: Mark of the Wild!

Using your Devour in a reversed way, you can share your DNA with your target and get in control of their bodies as a result. Their subconscious will no longer refuse your Mana and you can use that to command your slaves to some degree. But the higher their Magical Resistance is, the more likely it will be that they can refuse to obey your commands.

“Hey! You didn’t say that I still have the possibility to disobey you. I have higher Magical Resistance than you, so it wouldn’t have worked on me…”

“Oh… I forgot that one. Hahaha.”

“Whatever. It’s still better this way. I’ll let you do it first, I’ll be sure to succeed on my first try that way.”

“Okay. Then, stop moving,” he warned her as he got on his knees in front of her and pulled up her leather armour. He transformed into his panther form to gain the increased stats and decreased the size of his body until his paw was only a tiny bit smaller than a human’s hand. He put it on her crotch, right below her navel and closed his eyes.”

Elena felt her body turning stronger and her reflexes turning sharper. When Dred pulled back his paw, he saw a black tattoo on Elena’s crotch. “That’s where you store my DNA now. It should spread through your body slowly and from now on, I can refresh it anytime I touch you.”

“Haah~ this feels good. It’s really handy,” Elena shivered while feeling a comfortable and warm feeling rush through her body. “It’s as if ant legs were tickling my whole body. It’s really strange but feels good. Alright, it’s my turn now, but it seems that your tattoo will have the same shape as my hand. Hmm~ do you have any special shape in mind? I can transform my hand, after all.”

“I don’t know. I’ll leave it to you,” he said as he stood up and pulled off his shirt. Goosebumps appeared on his body in the cold winter, but he ignored it and waited patiently for Elena.

She pulled off her right glove and her hand transformed into a paw. Smiling at him, she put it on his navel. “We will be similar this way. It will match, like a couple~” she mused. Closing her eyes, she too used the Mark of the Wild, while Dred controlled his subconscious and let her Mana in. He felt his Mana Veins turn thicker and his brain turn quicker.

Soon Elena opened her eyes and looked at his muscular belly. Her hand reverted to normal and she slowly pulled her finger downward until reaching his pants. She looked into his eyes provocatively before turning around and walking towards the city. “Come. Our friends are waiting~”

“You are seriously evil.”

“Hehe, I can’t deny it.”

“Do you know why I wanted all this?” Dred raised a brow.

“I have a guess.”

“If all of us had the same spells and powers, that wouldn’t be good. It’s better to have our own roles in a team. But having the same amount of strength, agility, and other stats is a different matter. Since, if we knew our own strength, we would know the others’ strength too. This means that we could reach perfect timing with much less effort, in a much shorter time. We can turn into a perfectly operating team, where every member knows the other one to the highest degree and knows when to attack, when to retreat, and stuff. Being united is what gives teams the most power!”

“It would be similar to your body and your cells. A perfect organism!”

“Aww, you think I’m perfect? So sweet of you~” Elena mused.

“That wasn’t really my point…”

“Hehe. While you are holding an inspirational speech, we have arrived.”

“This still has one more usage,” Dred said as he transformed into Elena. “Instead of Cosmological Constant, we can use each other’s DNA to shapeshift. This is good because I won’t be a mount anymore and it can be used when the same person needs to be in numerous places. You can never know,” he shrugged his shoulders.

“Please reverse… you have no idea how strange it is to look at yourself. And you are naked with my body… I’m not an exhibitionist, damn it!”

“Hahaha, okay. Now then, why is there nobody here?” returning to his demon form, Dred furrowed his brows.

Torches lit up the fifty meters tall metal walls, but there was nobody on it.

“Let’s get in,” Elena muttered as she transformed into her shadow form and charged forward.

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