"CAWWW! CAWWW!" [?Bird?]

"Mwuaaaaa" [Nero] yawned in Cat form while groggily wiping his eyes with his paws and stretching only to notice that there are birds harping him from above.

Looking up, I was able to make out the silhouettes of several birds flying in a circle above me. It's definitely not night time, so that means I was woken by these guys? Gaining my senses, I regained my Humanoid form and began to get dressed. It seems like these birds thought I had died, and were about to dive in on me. I'm not dead though? Oh well~ They DON'T CARE!

Realizing the issue as the birds gather in attempting to claw my actual face off, I begin to scramble around the ground for my Lantern. Cowardly throwing it forth, I summon the only being in this world whom I know to be on my side:

"Come! Scarecrow! Protect me from these vile creatures!" [Nero] screamed in panic as the flock of birds surrounded him. Realizing that the Scarecrow won't be able to keep him perfectly safe, he decided to rely on his trump card and erected his [Barrier].

The Barrier is holding strong, but it's definitely getting scratch marks from the ravenous birds. Mr Scarecrow is valiantly thrashing about, but his DEX seems to be failing him this time. He keeps missing! Mr Scarecrow has his purple eyes back again, and the light emitted from my Lantern to summon him was purple. It must be something to do with it currently being day. Upon getting a closer look, it would appear that these birds… These birds are Crows. Mr Tier 4 Scarecrow Sensei is currently being beaten back by a group of 5 Crows. I'm at my limit. He had one job, but it seems that he has one too many Crows to terrify. He's outnumbered, that's all. Right!

I'm currently stuffing Candy down my throat at an alarming speed while fixating on my status like a madman. If I keep eating more Candy, my Barrier and Scarecrow will regenerate. I'm still not dealing any actual damage right now because Mr ScareZerker can't seem to land a single hit against those Crows. This is a losing battle, for sure. I have already devoured an entire bucket of Candy. Suddenly, I noticed a small icon near one of the Crows currently thrashing at my Barrier. No. Freaking. Way. Why did it take this long to notice it?! Am I stupid? Sure enough, [Clansmen Capture Low Success Rate, convince the Monster to join you in order to raise Success Rate]. I want to cry, but I'm also glad that I now have a strategy to survive this encounter. Ahem!

"Stop this unnecessary violence at once in the name of the Halloween Clan!" [Nero] triumphantly declared while puffing out his child-like chest to the fullest.

The Crows slowed down, but did not stop entirely.

"I am called Nero, I am the one True Halloween Cat! Stop your assault, join me and my cause!" [Nero] stated boldly before continuing to check the Clansmen Capture rate.

[Clansmen Capture Low Success Rate, convince the Monster to join you in order to raise Success Rate]. EH? I already stated who I am! Maybe that wasn't enough? Honor alone was enough to convince Mr Scarecrow. Maybe Crows value something even greater than honor? Now that I think about it, there's something off about these Crows. They don't seem to care about fighting Mr Scarecrow. They're genuinely trying to get to me, specifically. Or... Hold on.

Having a new idea, I picked up a piece of Candy and threw it out of my Barrier. Sure enough, these Crows want Candy. They must be starving, which is what is making them ravenous. When I first chose this race, it did indeed say that Halloween Creatures need Candy or Blood. Kill or Treat. Something like that. So from here on out, when attempting to capture new Clansmen; I'll definitely need to keep in mind that wild Clansmen may be starving. Even Mr Scarecrow was pretty hungry by the time I captured him. Maybe these guys are even more hungry than Mr Scarecrow was? Or maybe Crows are just heavily food oriented. With this revelation, it's time to try diplomacy again!

"Follow me and I will ensure that you are properly fed lots and lots of delicious Candy~" [Nero] said while luring the Crows by slowly dumping a bucket of Candy onto the ground; as if such a large amount of Candy was only child' splay for himself. Immediately after, each of the 5 Crows stopped wildly flying through the air in attempts to break the Barrier and froze while staring at the falling Candy. Not taking another chance, Nero quickly examined the Crows once more and...

[Clansmen Capture High Success Rate] Yosh! Lets go~

"Clansmen Capture!" [Nero] said while raising his Lantern to face the Crows. Immediately after, a familiar bright purple glow emitted from the Lantern and scattered, reaching out to each of the nearby Crows. The light rapidly engulfed the Crows, and after a few short seconds... It returned back into the Lantern alongside 4 of the Crows which seemingly vanished into thin air. 1 of the Crows remained, and flew away as if nothing had happened. I guess after seeing comrades join me, it lost the will to fight? Come back here and join my cult! I have Candy!

Afterwards, a pop up notification came, stating [Clansmen Capture Success! Crow T1x4 Gained]. Immediately after, a menu displayed and showed me the stats for the Crows before an additional pop up notification arrived over-top of the previous menu, stating [Soul Merge Possible! Would you like to Combine Crow T1x3 to gain Crow T2x1?]

Yes, actually. I think that would be great.

[Soul Merge Success! Crow T2x1 gained.]

With that, the Soul Merge pop up disappeared revealing the menu for all of my Clansmen again. I decided to compare the stats between a Crow T1 and a Crow T2.

Name: Unnamed Monster

Race: Crow (Halloween)

Class: Scout

Tier: 1

MP: 3/40

P. DEF: 5

M. DEF: 3

STR: 10

INT: 4

DEX: 8

LUK: 4

AGI: 20

Titles:

[Vulture], [Halloween Clansmen]

Abilities Learned:

[Aerial Dive], [Sharpened Claws], [Return to Halloween]

Name: Unnamed Monster

Race: Crow (Halloween)

Class: Scout

Tier: 2

MP: 9/80

P. DEF: 10

M. DEF: 6

STR: 20

INT: 8

DEX: 16

LUK: 8

AGI: 40

Titles:

[Vulture], [Halloween Clansmen]

Abilities Learned:

[Aerial Dive], [Sharpened Claws], [Return to Halloween]

Okay. So now that I can compare the two tiers, it would seem that I am able to combine 3 monsters in order to get the stats of 2 monsters but in one body. In a way, it's helpful because it means that each monster will have a smaller chance of being killed in one attack. It also enhances survivability for the one monster by increasing their AGI. My monsters as a whole will technically be dealing less damage, but they will be able to avoid taking damage more often. Just because I have more monsters and can henceforth deal more damage, it doesn't mean that all of those individual monsters will actually stand a good chance against the enemy. If an enemy has a large scale area of effect attack, then all the weaker monsters would be defeated instantaneously. It's more safe this way to have my power spread out among less guardians, if it means that those guardians will be more capable. I wonder how different the Tier 1 Crow looks as opposed to the Tier 2 Crow? We'll figure that out another time.

It's currently the middle of the day, and I'm still quite tired. Having needed to summon Mr Scarecrow during the day was seriously expensive, given that I wound up needing to fully heal him almost twice. Currently, I have two full buckets of Candy left. Sigh~ I just can't seem to catch a break and stock up beyond 3 buckets at a time. Honestly speaking, it would probably become inconvenient for me to be carrying 4 buckets regardless as I'm forced to hold them in my hands. My lab coat seriously reeks of Fish because it's always inconveniently chocked full of them. There are stains of Fish juices gathering all over the inside of my coat. Probably because I'm a Cat, I don't mind the smell... But my inner Human is telling me that I'm disgusting. I need a more suitable lifestyle for this adventure.

Standing atop this mountain, looking back and forth between the jungles of the Demon Kingdom and the swamp lands of the Lost Kingdom... I honestly can't decide which direction I would prefer to take. The more I think about it, the more I feel like if there are actually Skeletons and Zombies in the Demon Kingdom... Then they are probably hidden beneath the city of Orpia. In the depths of one of the Temples. Certainly. The Demon Kingdom isn't actually that large in terms of size. There are 3 Towns, two of them being very small areas which look similar to Orpia. That's it aside from the vast jungles. Seeing as how I've already explored the entirety of the Kingdom, at least the parts which can be reached without trespassing... I don't know where else they could be hiding aside from underground.

Those Temples are no joke. I only had a taste for one of them. The experience is too much for me to even comfortably think about. Just bringing up the thought makes me queasy and brings upon the desire to flee. Sneaking into one of those buildings may as well be a death trap. The thought of returning to train in the jungles only to have Lily find me also terrifies me. Being dragged back there by her would spell the ending of my existence, I'm sure. Thinking of it this way, I guess that I have decided to return to the Goblin Village by the process of elimintation. Maybe I'll try venturing to the Beastkin Kingdom after regaining a modicum feeling of safety. I need a breather. This near death experience to Crows toppled with the terror of Victor's Temple may have gotten me panicking.

While restlessly flying back north over the swamp lands, I can't help but feel slightly at ease. There's something about mud monsters which can't fly that makes me feel safe. Somehow, the third world Lost Kingdom feels like a much more fitting area for me than the Demon Kingdom. I feel regretful that I needed to see both Kingdoms up close and personal to realize that. The Lost Kingdom may not be perfect, hey... It's pretty dangerous too. However, the Demon Kingdom is on another level. They have a government but that very government is the reason for the Demon Kingdom being dangerous. Over here, it's simpler. I won't have to worry about being abducted and tortured underground here by those in power because there isn't anyone in power. It's as simple as that.

I began to eat some Candy for my starving Crows while flying. I ended up eating about a third of one of my two buckets before the Crows were appeased. After a few hours of flying, I managed to arrive back at the Village Chief's hut in the Goblin Village. The guards appear shocked to see me, but they immediately let me pass to see the Chief. He looks like he was just in the middle of reading something.

"My… You're back so soon! You seem to have seen better days, please lay down and rest as long as you need." [Village Chief] said after having noticed Nero's state.

I must have looked pretty mangled for him to immediately realize how tired I was. Thank you sir~ This one will lay down their lab coat and sleep! I quickly lost consciousness after returning to my Cat form. Thank you Fish, for softening the fall!