“So what’s your name?”, I ask her while walking back to my group.

“You ask that after inviting me to your group?”, she says while giggling.

“Ah! Yes, I’m sorry. I was just so excited to see a real devil. Usually they stay underground since the grand war. I’m sorry if I sometimes am a bit too overzealous, I just always get overexcited if something interests me.”, I say while scratching the back of my head in embarrassment.

“Hehe”, she giggles while saying, “I don’t mind, it’s better than all the hateful stares I usually get. The devils didn’t really leave behind a good impression during the war.”

“Well they did massacre entire villages with innocent people during the great war just to awaken and strengthen their bloodline faster. Sentient races are generally not so forgiving about such matters.”, I say while arriving at our group where the princess is busy trying to wake the fainted crown prince up.

“By the way, my name is Sieg Alma and this here is Melia Ignis. She is Amina Xerxes and is the princess of the Trita Kingdom. That pile of useless flesh over there is the racist crown prince of the elves, Igomar Lightgrove.”, I say while pointing at the respective individuals.

“Hey I’m not racist! I just don’t like her!”, yells the prince while standing back up on his quivering legs.

“Then why did you say that we shouldn’t take her in our squad?”, I ask while glaring at him.

“I think you said something along the lines that she was a devil and that’s why we shouldn’t take her in our squad.”

“Ooh, is that so?”, asks the Devil girl while grinning at the crown prince.

“Well, I might have”, says the prince with a quivering voice, “I just don’t really like devils, because our army has had some fall-outs with rogue devils that tried to steal wisdom fruits of our world tree.”

“Well, if devils are so hated by the Elves, then why would they allow her to study at the Elves Soul University?”, I ask the prince with a curious expression.

“Lothea Rimuchi , this devil, is the adopted daughter of the principal of the Elves Soul University. That is why there is no problem.”, He says while trying to inch away as far as possible from Lothea.

“Hmm, I think there is something more to this situation. Elves won’t hate an entire race because of some ancient history and some criminals. They might dislike them but not really hate them.”, I say while pondering.

“I think you are just afraid of Lothea. You seem to inch away from her, every time she comes closer. Hmm, it’s almost like a conditioned reflex.”

“Ah, I know!”, I say with a big smile, “ I bet she beat you up multiple times, so many times in fact that you became conditioned to fear her! I read about this in a book about the unconsciousness and brainwashing.”

“Fufufu, that’s right!”, Lothea confirms while laughing, “ He used to be a real arrogant jerk. He always oppressed everyone at the university with his identity. But the worst part was that he targeted me in particular. He always said that my horns were ugly and that my skin had a disgusting color. One day it got so bad that he and some other guys and girls beat me up just for being different. When I ran away while crying, my father saw this and immediately taught me how to fight. When I felt confident about my abilities I beat everyone up that used to bully me. Of course, the instigator of that whole mess got special treatment.”

The crown prince seems to be again on the brink of fainting when the “special treatment” gets mentioned.

“What did you do? You really conditioned him thoroughly with your method.”, I say while chuckling at the sight of the prince almost fainting again.

“Well, my father taught me a flameball spell and a healing spell for healing my injuries, but I used it differently. I burned the prince alive and then healed him back to full health. Repeating this process multiple times a day for a couple of months does really work wonders. Also my father is the strongest high elf in the elven kingdom, so the royals didn’t dare to interfere.”, she says while giggling.

Thump!

I look up and see that the prince has fainted again. This must truly be a very effective method to condition someone. I should try to remember this, maybe I will have use for it someday.

“I know that Igy used to be a real jerk back in the day, but can you please be somewhat lenient with him now?”, asks the princess while sighing, “He really changed in the past couple of years, going from an arrogant young master to become a real dependable man.”

‘I wonder how he is dependable in any way?’, I think while trying to keep a straight face.

“Don’t worry, burning him a couple of times also burned my anger for him away”, says Lothea while gently smiling at the princess.

‘Somehow that smile doesn’t seem to conform with what’s she is saying. Or is that just me?’, I think while still trying to maintain my poker face. I somehow feel that I should keep all these comments about the situation in my head, or something less than pleasant will happen to me.

“I think it would be good to show each other our stats before we go into the forest. Knowing each other strengths and weaknesses will allow us to cooperate better.”, says Melia suddenly, trying to get the conversation going in a different direction.

“Okay, sound good”, I say, relieved that we can get out of this awkward situation.

After that we show each other our status papers.

Sieg Alma

Sieg Alma

Totals

Estimated Regeneration

Resistances

Vitality (dragon aura/ human aura is not awakened)

130

Magical damage resistance: 31%

Stamina

140

Aura resistance: 16%

Endurance

22

Physical damage resistance: 22%

Mana capacity (mana bound to body)

250

2.5 mana/sec

Soul rank: Rank 3 (intermediate soul augmenter)

Battle power estimation: Rank j-i (extraordinary rank 3 human)

Soul shard inherent traits unlocked (error 404: more traits unlocked than soul rank should permit):

Adaptation: This trait allows you toù$ù$^t”’”’!ç(èth’”(“(;==é:”(;

Metal absorption: This trait allows you to absorp$^t””§ut!etret=;:mù

Dragonic bloodline: This trait gives you a higher mana affinity, a stronger body and allows you to innately use dragon aura.

Bloodline integrator: This trait Allows you to consume bloodlines and inherit some of their traits. The bloodlines must be stronger than your current bloodline or no traits will be inherited. Weaker bloodlines get consumed to strengthen the already existing bloodlines. (New)

Mythril infused body: This trait gives you abnormally high magical and physical resistance. It also gives you better control over your internal mana. (New)

Race: Human (75%), Dragonic Mythril Core Slime (25%) => [ Mythril Core slime = 15%, Dragon = 10% ]

Soul shard (bound to body) : Core Slime => Mythril Core Slime => Dragonic Mythril Core Slime

Princess:

Amina Xerxes

Totals

Estimated Regeneration

Resistances / (fusion-mode values)

Vitality (dragon aura/ human aura is not awakened)

100

Magical damage resistance: 20%

Stamina

110

Aura resistance: 10%

Endurance

15

Physical damage resistance: 15%/ (25%)

Mana capacity

400

4 mana/sec

Soul rank: Rank 4 (experienced soul augmenter)

Battle power estimation: Rank H (strong rank 4 human)

Dragonic strength: This trait gives your body massive strength even without fusing with your soul shard.

Dragonic bloodline: This trait gives you a higher mana affinity, a stronger body and allows you to innately use dragon aura.

Internal dragonic flame: This trait allows you to insta-cast dragonic fire magic.

Dragon scale: This trait allows you to create a scale based armor when in fusion-mode. This will give you, when in fusion-mode, an extra 10% Physical damage resistance.

Dragonic height: This trait allows you to let yourself grow to the height of a real dragon and you can control your height at will while being in fusion-mode.

Race: Human (99%), Dragonic (1%)

Soul shard : Red Wyvern => Lesser Red Dragon => Normal Red Dragon => Lesser Red Dragon King

Melia Ignis:

Melia Ignis

Totals

Estimated Regeneration

Resistances / (fusion-mode values)

Vitality (Flame sword aura awakened)

150

Magical damage resistance: 23% / (28%)

Stamina

150

Aura resistance: 12% / (17%)

Endurance

10

Physical damage resistance: 10% / (15%)

Mana capacity

450

3 mana/sec

Soul rank: Rank 4 (experienced soul augmenter)

Battle power estimation: Rank H (strong rank 4 human)

Flame sword: When in fusion-mode you can summon a sword condensed of flames. This also allows you to use the Flame sword aura which will lacerate and burn people who come to close.

Flame armor: When in fusion-mode you can summon an armor condensed of flames, which gives you an extra 5% magical, aura and physical damage resistance. Creates a blistering aura around you that supports the flame sword aura.

Phasing: This trait allows you to phase through objects and gives you increased speed, interference of mana can cancel this skill out. Short-term flight is also possible.

Soul fire: This trait allows you to insta-cast any fire based magic and gives you a fire infused body, which will significantly increase your vitality and stamina.

Race: Human (100%)

Soul shard : Flaming soul => Flaming Warrior => Flaming Sword Warrior => Flaming Revenant Sword Warrior

Igomar Lightgrove

Igomar Lightgrove

Totals

Estimated Regeneration

Resistances / (fusion-mode values)

Vitality (sun aura)

90

Magical damage resistance: 20%

Stamina

95

Aura resistance: 10%

Endurance

9

Physical damage resistance: 9% / (29%)

Mana capacity

500

4 mana/sec

Soul rank: Rank 4 (experienced soul augmenter)

Battle power estimation: Rank H (strong rank 4 Elf)

Gravitational pull: This trait allows you to manipulate the surrounding gravity when in fusion mode. Can be cancelled out by strong aura or mana interference.

Brown dwarf armor: This trait allows you to summon an extreme dense and heavy armor that makes the physical damage resistance go up with 20%. This armor will however slow your movement down.

White dwarf everlasting aura: Supports sun aura and allows you to use sun aura even when not in fusion-mode.

Solar flare: Allows you to insta-cast all sun-based fire magic and gives you the ability to use sun aura. Sun aura will burn everything in your proximity and can blind light sensitive individuals.

Race: High Elf (100%) => [Wood elf = 25%; Dark elf = 25%; Sun elf = 50%]

Soul shard : Sun ray => Brown dwarf => White dwarf => Red sun

Lothea Rimuchi

Lothea Rimuchi

Totals

Estimated Regeneration

Resistances

Vitality (Devil aura is not awakened/void aura is awakened)

120

Magical damage resistance: 20%

Stamina

130

Aura resistance: 15%

Endurance

15

Physical damage resistance: 15%

Mana capacity

400

4 mana/sec

Soul rank: Rank 3 (Intermediate soul augmenter)

Battle power estimation: Rank j-i (extraordinary rank 3 Devil)

Cursed Bloodline strengthening: This trait allows you to strengthen your bloodline by consuming the soul essence of other sentient beings. This is the cursed version, which will allow you to also use the soul essence of other devils to strengthen your bloodline.

Abyssal touch: This trait allows you to insta-cast any darkness and fire based magic.

Phoenix revival: This trait allows you to instantly heal your injuries at the cost of large amounts of mana.

Black phoenix flame: This trait Allows you to fuse darkness and fire and allows you to insta-cast any darkness-fire fusion spells.

Void-touched: This trait allows you to deal more damage by strengthening all your attacks with destructive void based energy within your aura. Everything that goes outside of your aura will lose this buff.

Race: Cursed Devil (100%) => [Devil = 50% ; Void touched = 50%]

Soul shard : Lesser abyssal phoenix => abyssal phoenix => Black abyssal phoenix => Black abyssal void phoenix

“Wow, you are really strong for a rank 3 soul augmenter!”, says Lothea in surprise, “You only have a slime soul shard and managed to become so strong, I never have heard of anything like this before.”

“I rather not do it again though. While my experiment that merged my body with my soul shard gave me a lot of power, it was also quite risky and painful.”, I say to her.

“Yeah, I could guess that. I heard of experiments before, where they tried to bind their soul shard to their body for better efficiency, but they all ended in failure. It’s honestly a miracle that you are still alive”, she says with rising curiosity.

“Okay, I see that everyone is in a group now!”, yells Miss lazula suddenly, which interrupts or conversation, “You will all have a months’ time to complete the task that has been given. If you are in trouble you can activate the spell talisman that each member of the group has been given, this will notify us and we will then come to help you as fast as possible. Asking for help in an impossible situation will not let you fail the test, if we see that you would die without our help than we will let you continue the test after taking care of the problem. That’s all, good luck everyone!”

I look at the princess and ask, “Will it not be dangerous for you to go out into these forests? Isn’t it the perfect opportunity for assassins to kidnap or kill you?”

“Not really, I have a talisman that can protect me against a fully powered strike of a rank 10 soul augmenter. I also have a spatial talisman that can teleport our whole group away within milliseconds if there is mortal danger. If there was someone that could still hurt us despite all these things, then he would have killed me a long time ago in the palace, because even my father wouldn’t be able to stop such a strong assassin.”, says the princess with a reassuring smile.

“Okay, that’s good to know”, I say to her while I sigh in relief, “Let’s get going! We only have a month to find enough resources in this beginner level forest, so we better hurry up.”

We immediately dash, full of vigor, into the forest. The fainted racist prince gets dragged by his legs over the ground and dashes with a lot less vigor into the forest.