“He beat who now!?” Korgan sounded astounded and surprised that he let his voice get higher than normal. He normally keeps himself composed and calm but hearing what Aijasyl had to say was sending his nerves into frenzy.

“We ended up encountering a member of Altyn clan at the marketplace. The member of the Altyn clan tried to attack us but Master Ren fought bravely and beat him.” Aijasyl calmly repeated what she said before to her astounded master.

“Is...Is that so?” Korgan’s sole left hand was trembling. Altyn clan had cost him two sons, now they were targeting his grandson; this was too much to take in. But it seems like his grandson managed to somehow defeat the Altyn clan member.

“Yes, Master Korgan. Watching his back as he defended me was…it was like he was someone else entirely, for an instant. The Altyn clan member identified himself as the third son of the clan, Kin Altyn. He and his group confronted Ren and me, blocking our way. Kin Altyn threatened to have his way with me and kill Ren. Then he attacked us. I thought we were done for, but Master Ren fought back, beheading the Phoenix demon in the process. Before the Phoenix demon could stand up, Ren exploded a concentrated ball of fire energy right where Kin Altyn was, burying him under the debris of the buildings.” Aijasyl finished her report.

“Why am I hearing this right now instead of when you came back?” Korgan asked. They came back from the market trip a few hours ago, it was night already and Ren already went to sleep. Aijasyl only started to tell Korgan this when he asked if something happened or was something wrong.

“Master Ren asked me not to tell anyone about what happened.” Aijasyl admitted. “I am very sorry for hiding this from you, Master Korgan.”

“No…no. Don’t apologize. Rather I am glad you told me. But that kid, keeping something like this a secret…Huh” Korgan sighed in exasperation. “I suppose he wanted to hide this event from me to make sure I am not worried, he is strangely considerate for a demon of his character.” Being able to fight and defeat Altyn clan member, Ren’s bold action only fit in with his end goal, which Korgan believed to be the throne of the Demon King. It seems like Ren is prepared to deal with the Altyn clan, their age old enemy, being able to take down one of them was a huge accomplishment, but now all of the Altyn clan will be after them.

“This is both good and bad news. Good news- Ren made his intention to succeed very clear and we must lend our aid to him to fulfill such an ambition. He even managed to best one of the Altyn clan members; he has progressed further than I thought! Bad news- Altyn clan now knows of his existence, and they will be sending assassins after him or they will try to kill him out in the open…I was hoping Ren’s existence could be kept secret from the likes of Altyn clan, but just as I thought, it was just a matter of time before they found out. It seems Karatengu clan can never find peace while Altyn clan is active.”

“Will the Altyn clan invade Karatengu territory?” Aijasyl asked.

“No. After the last time they invaded, I set up a barrier only someone of Demon Lord’s level or higher can break. That barrier is impervious to any demon with Phoenix lineage, but it cannot keep other enemies at bay. Considering the fact that almost all of the Altyn clan is blood related to Phoenix demons, I can safely say that the barrier will keep Altyn clan at bay, but none else.”

“I see.” Aijasyl muttered.

“From now on, each member of the Tengu clan has to be doubly cautious when exiting the Karatengu territory. Luckily we are a clan that produces most of our food and resources ourselves so minimizing our contact with the territories outside the clan while the Selection is not finished would not be too difficult. During the times when the clan members will have to go outside, they have to be careful not to be spotted by Altyn clan or their allies. With Altyn clan knowing I have an heir, they will stop at nothing before our entire clan is destroyed. They will strike at those who participate in the Selection. That is why… I will train those who are participating in the Selection. I will make sure that the participants in the Selection have higher chance of surviving it. That includes you as well.” Korgan nodded at surprised Aijasyl.

“Thank you, master Korgan.” Aijasyl bowed before taking her leave.

Korgan was left there, thinking nervously. ‘Is he going to be ok? With how strong the Altyn clan demons are, does he know just how much in danger he truly is? I thought he was simply unaware of how powerful the Altyn clan was. But with this happening, it seems like I have underestimated my grandson yet again. But while I am proud of the fact he managed to defeat one of his enemies, I fear he might be not so lucky next time. If the Altyn clan decides to gang up on him, then…’ Korgan was scared. Scared to lose the last member of his family, his grandson. He feared that the same cruel fate that took away his two sons would snatch his grandson away as well. “No, I will not let that happen. Not while I am still here!!!” His grandson might have become able to take on a single Altyn clan member but he still needs to be guided in order to ensure he survives against them. And for that, Korgan shall train him.

It has been more than a week after the first trial of the Selection had ended. Korgan had decided to give the demons that participated in the Selection some time to cool off, but it seems like the time for rest is over now. Each one of the young demons needs to grow more powerful if they have any hope to survive.

* * *

“WHOOAAA!” Ren woke up with a yawn, feeling a strange sensation on his left arm, almost as if it was wrapped in something coiled. When he looked at his arm, to his horror, he saw a serpent with three heads wrapped around his left arm. “AAAAAAAAH!” Ren screamed in horror.

The snake reacted to his scream and ended up doing something strange. It now disappeared into his palm. The palm had some kind of a mark on it that resembled the fangs of the snake, except there were six teeth marks. Without a doubt, the three headed snake bit him.

When Ren touched the mark on his hand, one of the three heads appeared, looking at Ren with a curious face, then the other two heads appeared, before extending out of Ren’s left palm, looking at Ren with a mix of wonder and calmness.

“IS SOMETHING WRONG!!?” Korgan Karatengu barged into Ren’s room. Now he saw his grandson with a three headed tiny serpent coming out of his hand.

“Grandfather, could you please tell me if I am still dreaming?” Ren asked.

“Nay, this is no dream.” The three headed serpent hissed at Korgan when he tried to approach it, now the snake started to spew black flames from its mouth.

‘Could it be?’ Korgan now thought. ‘No. It’s impossible.’ The snake had tiny feet and wings. Furthermore, the serpent now was spitting black flames that looked suspiciously similar to black Tengu fire that Korgan gave to Ren.

“Ren, do you still have that bottled black fire mana I gave you?”

“Grandpa, I don’t think it is the time for that. I have a Jilan snake coming out of my hand and I do not want to have it there.” Ren said while trembling. He reached out into his pocket and took a bottle that had fire mana in it, the bottle was empty.

“Grandson, I do not think that is a Jilan snake.”

“Why not? It looks like one doesn’t it?”

“Jilan snakes have no legs nor do they spit Tengu fire.”

“Then what is this?”

“I do believe it is a baby Hydra.”

“A baby what now?” Ren asked, the serpent was still hissing at Korgan but it calmed down when Korgan let his guard down. It wrapped itself around Ren’s fingers and was rubbing its foreheads affectionately upon Ren’s hand.

“A baby hydra. And it seems like you have domesticated it. Where did you find it?” Korgan asked.

“Find it? I did not know I had this Hydra thing until I woke up just now.”

“The hydras haven’t been spotted in these parts of the Kalkan kingdom for a very long time, so I very sure that it did not come from this territory. Ren, during the first trial, you told me the location was an underground crystal tunnels, right?”

“Yeah.”

“Then I do believe that is where the hydra comes from. They originally occupied swamps, but some rare types occupy the underground, burying themselves deep, when they lay their eggs they lay them on hard surfaces, preferably somewhere with tough environment. When the eggs hatch, they look for anything that to keep them warm, it must have snuck in to your bag or pocket without you noticing.”

“Will it try to eat me?”

“No. It is likely that this Hydra has taken liking to you as it has not killed you. Try to pat its heads.” Ren did just that. The hydra now disappeared again, entering the six fang mark on Ren’s left palm.

“Remarkable.” Korgan examined Ren’s left palm, specifically the mark with six fangs.

“What is this, grandfather?”

“It’s a summoning contract, with the hydra marking you as its summoner and itself as your familiar. The mark is connected to a pocket dimension from which you can call the hydra from. In fact, the summoning contract allows you to call the hydra from any location! I knew the hydras were intelligent species but to this extent…It is fortunate that this hydra considers you an ally instead of a prey.”

“Grandfather, how do you know so much about Hydras?” Ren asked.

“When I was younger I was fascinated with legendary beasts to the point that I once tried to get myself a pet hydra, but unfortunately all of the hydras I encountered were mature already, so I ended up having to run for my life while they chased after me.” Korgan told his rather embarrassing story from his youth to Ren.

“Why did you want to have Hydra for a pet?”

“Lots of reasons! Some of the most powerful demon kings in history had hydra familiars which they rode as their steeds! Hydra’s have many different abilities as well!”

“Such as?” Ren was now curious.

“A hydra can consume anything and absorb the properties of anything it eats. For example, the hydra you have seems to have eaten the bottle with black fire mana I gave you, now it is able to spew black flames.”

“So are you saying, the more it eats the more powerful it gets?”

“Indeed. That was the exact reason I desired to have a pet hydra as a youth, but there is one thing…The Hydras are extremely aggressive to those they don’t trust and their teeth secrete a very powerful poison that they can use for different purposes. And they are notoriously hard to kill.”

“Grandfather, this hydra apparently bit my palm, why am I feeling fine?”

“Most likely it wanted to bond with you with a summoning contract.”

“Come to think of it, I already made contracts with Kizilkoz and Sirinke, everyone keeps talking about contract this contract that, can you tell me what is this all about?”

“Gladly, grandson. There are many types of contracts. There is a Master-Master contract with both parties making an agreement as equals. There is a Master- Servant contract, which marks one party as the dominant while the other party as a follower. There is also a Master-Familiar contract which is established when the ones making the contract are of not the same species, with one becoming the familiar of the other. The other type, the one that you have on your hand, it’s a summoning contract, it’s a variation of Master-Familiar contract, but with the additional capability to summon your familiar, the baby hydra that is.”

“I see, so I made a Master-Servant contract with Sento and Master-Master Contract with Kizilkoz, and now I have a Master-Familiar contract with this Hydra, huh?” Ren muttered.

“Additionally, each contract is placed upon the soul of the user. If one party breaks the contract’s requirements then that party’s soul suffers consequences, often resulting in death of the contract user. But this is only the case for the Master-Master contract. In the other cases, if you wield the Master half of the contract, you are in no danger, while the other parties will be if they decide to betray you. The contract can be made by Master, Servant, or even a familiar as in your case, provided they are intelligent enough to make the contract and bond their soul to it.”

“I see, so the Hydra is pretty smart since it knows how to do that?”

“Baby hydras bond themselves to stronger creatures in order to be safe in their weaker stages of life. They usually do so with bigger beasts, which after they have marked with the contract; they lead a symbiotic relationship until they are older. Hydras mark the first strong creature they encounter, that is stronger than them at that point when they are most vulnerable. They have developed the capacity to make Master-Familiar contracts due to adapting to their environment that requires them to have a symbiotic relationship with a stronger host, which is you in this case.”

“So the hydra thinks of me as it’s protector right now? What about when it gets older? Will it try to eat me?”

“I do not know, I have never seen hydra as a baby, I only read of them, and the ones I encountered were already fully grown.”

“How long does it take for hydra to mature?” Ren asked.

“Hydras grow very quickly, their growth never actually stops, but they are considered mature when they reach about two meters in height, but they can get much larger than that. Their bodies get bigger very quickly, it might look like an over-sized lizard now, but with enough food and nurture, it will become size of a cattle in a week. And then it will continue growing and in no time it will be too big for this room!”

“WOW!” Ren was rather amazed. The hydra now poked it’s head out of the summoning mark, it’s head only poking out of the palm of his hand, it was kind of freaky, but Ren now proceeded to pat it’s head. “So I suppose I am stuck with you then, in that case, I will call you Fanghead, what do you think?” The hydra seemed to nod in approval before yawning and going back into a pocket dimension in Ren’s palm.

“The place it entered to, what is that place?”

“It’s a pocket dimension created by Master-Familiar contract, a place where a familiar can enter and rest within a pocket dimension located on master’s body.” Korgan explained. “It is an empty realm where the hydra will rest and grow.”

“I see, so I can feed it anything?”

“Currently it is weak, so it most likely has no poison immunity. But it should be able to consume anything as long as it is organic. Why? Would you like to keep it?”

“Yeah, from what you said, grandfather, sounds like keeping a hydra as a pet might not be a bad idea.”

“Be sure to raise it well then, grandson.” Korgan said with a smile.

* * *

“Ok, now listen carefully Fanghead! I will let you eat these kinds of crops only…” Ren gestured at the weed-like growths that were plaguing the fields of crops. Lately such weeds were attacking all crops in sight, so Ren thought it would be a good idea to let a hydra consume such unwanted plant. Ren was told by Master Korgan that if he forbids the Hydra from doing something, the hydra would be required to listen and obey due to Master-Familiar contract. Now he was left specifying to Hydra what it could eat and what it couldn’t. The hydra nodded with its three heads as Ren kept specifying. “You will not eat these kind of crops, understood? As a reward, after today I will give you another bottle with elemental mana, ok?” The three headed hydra nodded in agreement. It seems like the hydra developed a taste for the elemental mana. Ren was using this as a reward system in order to get the hydra to obey him. “You will not attack, bite, or eat any of the Tengu clan members, understood?” The hydra nodded again.

Then he let the hydra loose on the fields, where lots of Tengu clan members were working on the field.

“Come to think of it, I probably should have warned the demons working at the field that there is a hydra on the loose, but I suppose it is fine~”

There were quite a lot of Tengu demons who had encounters with the hydra, but as they found out, once one head got chopped off, two more grew in an instant. By the end of the day, the tiny hydra had grown to a size of one and half meters in height with about five heads. This created a rumor of the ‘Monster of the Fields’ among the Tengu clan members.