***

“Sombak! Are you here?”

Damn, where the hell did that little thing has gone off to?

“Come on, we gotta go now… If you don’t want me to tame you, that’s fine, but at least tell me if you’re going to leave!”

*Shk-shk-shk*

“Hm, oh there you are. Wait, since when have you grown legs?”

Almost look like a spider leg, and there are 12 of them.

Walking up to me and have all three of its hand spreading out, it’s asking me to hold them again if I’m correct. So, I did.

! {Creature: UnSombak (Infant II) – has been tamed}

“Wha—" instantaneous taming without me doing anything, "So you’ve evolved? You even got more teeth now, that’s amazing, boy!” caressing it as it whirls on me, “Alright, let’s get going.”

“Wouldn’t want to be so far behind as we are now.”

In search of its food, I had to take a long detour from my original goal, which is the house in the drawing that lord Hedrick gave me. Well, thanks to that though, I got myself a new skill along with an UP to my level.

“Gotta catch up to the top!”

…

==== Quick Status ====

Statistics

Name: Luosa / Level: 21 / Class: Mage

Primary Attributes

Max Health: 1000 | Max Mana: 10200 | Max Stamina: 2000

Health: 1000 | Mana: 10200 | Stamina: 2000

Secondary Attributes

Strength: 30 / Dexterity: 10 / Endurance: 20

Vitality: 0 / Agility: 20

Intelligence: 150 / Faith: 150 / Luck: 50

Combat

Physical Attack: 20 (+15) | 7 (+5) / Physical Defense: 0 (+10)

Magical Attack: 15 (+150) / Magical Defense: 0 (+10)

Health Regeneration: 1 / Mana Regeneration: 31 / Stamina Regeneration: 1

==== Quick Status ====

{Power Throw / Effectively strengthened the force of thrown item(s) / Stamina Consumption: 300 / Requirement: 25 Strength, 10 Agility}

I kept using the skill as I walk through the wilderness, and have fun with throwing my axe to the sky. Let the gravity works its magic by pulling it back down to the earth. Repeatedly, with me humming a tune as Sombak is munching on the bandit leader’s head.

*Hiss*

“Mm?” I wonder just what exactly is interrupting my laxing walk, “A monster?”

==== Quick Inspect ====

Bolt Viper / Level: 34 / Reptile / Health: 12.000

==== Quick Inspect ====

Medium-sized (giant) snake with its fangs in the outer part of its mouth, eyes circling in black and white color. It quickly opens its mouth and shot its venom towards me.

*Boom*

I raised a Wall of Stone and was ready to resummon my axe, but then I realized that I now have a summoned creature with me, “Sombak, think you can beat that thing?”

Quickly swallowing the bandit’s head whole.

*Krooogoghoghk*

“I’ll take that as a yes. I'll be waiting up ahead.”

*Krooooghk*

Letting all three of its hands go, he dropped safely and smoothly on the ground, and rapidly disappear – camouflaged with the landscape.

Sighing as I left, ‘Man, how nice would it be if I have Summoner class passive.’

I don’t really know much about Ghost-Demon-type creatures either, so I can’t really guess their abilities until I see and analyze them properly.

Then again, Sombak only got one skill and it’s the better version that I have and not-so-familiar with…

‘Even miss Replica’s appraisal can only see so much. I might want a better one for my second character. For now, this suffices.’

*Ksh *Ksh *Ksh

Heard something going on within the bushes. Upon inspecting it, a battle music started playing.

! {Quick Inspect}

~ {Bolt Viper / Level: 34 / Reptile / Health: 12.000}

~ {Bolt Viper / Level: 31 / Reptile / Health: 11.000}

~ {Bolt Viper / Level: 38 / Reptile / Health: 15.000}

~ {Bolt Viper King / Level 40 / Boss-Reptile / Health 100.000}

They’re hissing.

“Heh,” it’s been quite some time since I hear some music, “Guess it’s time to move all these joints back to where they were. Ignition!”

*Bwooosh*

The two snakes swirl together as they charged their heads towards me, “A coordinated assault, eh?” but they came crashing to the wall I’ve quickly summoned.

*Boom*

With the King hasn’t made a move, I was about to finish the two mindless snakes but the third one has made his. Going around behind me, think it can flank me while I was busy with its two siblings?

"But boy, that mistake will cost you your life!”

While [Ignition] is active…

~ {Ignition / Rank E-Uncommon / Tier 1 Spell / Coat a part of oneself in flame, able to activate Combustion at will once the spell is in effect / Mana Consumption: 100 + 10/s / Cooldown: None}

I can use [Combustion] all I want in its fullest strength.

***

Tapping the shoulder of a sighing maid, “Sadrin, is Siola still there?”

“!!!" glaring at her, "Madam Yuri, you startled me.”

“How many times have I told you already? Just drop the formality when we’re alone.”

“And how many times have I told you that I will not? As a Mithra, you should be aware of your status no matter where and with who you are.”

Sighing, “Speaking of one.”

“…” clenching her fists, “Yes, she’s still in there.”

“How is she?”

“Why are you asking?”

“Sadrin, I’m her mother.”

“Uhuh, the same mother who sold her to a lesser family just because she ‘loves' the son of the said family. You even neglect your duty as a mother when she’s growing up, never sided with her in a fight, and now you want to claim the title of a mother?”

“Sadrin—”

“Enough, ‘madam’ Yuri. Even that whore Linda was willing to lend your ‘daughter’ a hand, and do you already forget that you were the reason for all of this?! Why are you even suggesting our brightest diamond to live in such a hostile environment?”

“…”

“Siola has been living in that capsule for a whole week and only eat a single meal when she came out. Tell me, is that how a Mithra lives their life?”

“I didn’t want this to happen.”

“Of course, you didn’t… but it happened. Now take the responsibility and get out of my sight before lord Hajaran gets here.”

“…” closing her eyes with a tightened chest, but before she leaves, “Sadrin, I’m... glad to have Siola in your care.”

With her eyes split, she crossed her arms with a heavy pinch, the gritted teeth clicked, “Tch, what are you doing, Yuri…”

The woman in question has already left.

“… You weren’t like this before…”

A flash of memories appeared. Yuri was holding Siola in her belly with a warm look in her eyes. She was laughing as the entire Mithra family are looking at her in joy.

“What happened?”

***

Every limb that I have was separated from my torso, including my head. Although they were in pieces, I can still somewhat briefly control them. They're flailing around in such a comedic way that makes me wanted to laugh, but unfortunately, I couldn't.

! {+2700 Exp}

The once green scenery has changed completely by the flood of blood coming from the charred body of these snakes.

*Krooogh-goghk*

Sombak, it has returned, I see.

Looks like I won’t have to wait for another hour to revive. The severed parts of my body were reattached back to my main body, and they’re all glued together seamlessly.

*Cough *Cough

“Agh, I can never get used to this blood stuck in my throat.”

Petting Sombak, “Thanks, boy.”

Quite unexpected to see this low-level summon of mine to be able to beat something that is far stronger than him, but then again, despite it having only a single-digit Health, it has Immortality Rank 4 – one rank higher than mine.

‘But how is he able to defeat something without having a single point in its attack?’

‘Heh, wonder if I will ever know?’

We encountered several wolf monsters on our journey, a couple more bolt viper, and a few large turtles with fangs on its mouth.

I didn’t level up at all, and it is thanks (not) to the [Blessing of the Abyss] which reduced my Exp gain by 80% in exchange for me having the access to [Abyssal Touch] skill and Immortality, both of which came from the previous [Unending Contract of the Abyss].

{Abyssal Touch / Weaken the target and slightly drain all of their Primary Attributes until it fully depleted / Potency: 2 / Primary Attribute Consumption: None / Next Potency Requirement: Kill 246 Living Creatures}

“Wait…” narrowing my eyes down, “Next Potency Requirement?”

There must be something that I have missed with this “Abyss” thing, especially since the term had popped up a few times. The former Mage of the Abyss, miss Replica. Even King Ludwig and lord Mordor have Abyss as their title.

‘This Skill is the only thing that it gave me though, and it has Potency for its proficiency instead of Rank or Tiers. What would happen if I raise it to the max?’

Maybe, just maybe, the restriction on the Exp gain will be reduced.

‘It seems that the number of kill counts will increase even if I’m not directly involved since Sombak’s kills were counted as if it were mine.’

Closing my eyes and let my hands activated the skills, and all of a sudden, my heart is beating faster. The beautiful silky skin of my hands turns black and it's cracked, erecting silver black flame from within.

The longer I use the skill, my heart beats even harder.

‘I don’t need to use it to level up its proficiency, but next time, I’ll try it out at least.’

Upon arriving at the supposedly “Red House”, I was mesmerized by the scenery of the said house to be shed by the blinding light of the sun.

“Quite different from the drawing, but I’m sure that this is it.”

Once I walked in there, I noticed that it is more of a shed than a house. No separate room whatsoever, “What the hell is all this?”

Tons of alchemical ingredients, monster heads, weird markings all over, and it’s completely messed up with everything is all over the place.

I found a book on one of the shelves, “Urgh, Ekolia’s Ancient Language. Let’s see what we have here…”

Judging by the cover and how thin the book is, I assume that it’s a note.

“Once I finish this task and return to the library, I’ll ask for a tutorial on this. Learning this language for real could be useful if I come across another one of these again.”

“Now then, what the hell am I supposed to do now?”

I look around for the thing I was supposed to look for but there’s nothing here that is useful at all – at least to my understanding. There’s no basement or secret room.

“Hmm, could it be…”

Just like how miss Replica and lord Hedrick teleport me to the surface, “There is something in this room that might be able to—”

*C-r-e-e-a-a-a-k*

“Oh, there’s someone here?”

A familiar voice.

That person had to lower their upper body in order to get in. With a white dragon armor and armored tail, it’s none other than the person who has brought me in.

“Avarice?!”

“Hmm... Luosa?”