Simon stood there, waiting for me to attack. I’m not entirely sure how I should attack and Simon doesn’t seem to want to give me any information.

Hm, I could attack with a spell. However, most of my spells aren’t too powerful. The ones that are powerful aren’t very fast and while Simon seems to just be standing there I doubt he’ll let me take enough time to cast those spells.

Would the best option be to just attack physically? It worked against the rabbits so why can’t it work again?

I tried to use [Stealth] to sneak towards Simon but he just stared at me the entire time.

Therefore I decided to just run towards him.

Just as I reached him and was about to swipe with my claws, he raised his hand and slapped me away.

“Sigh, you’re even worse than I expected. Not only did you use [Stealth] when there was no chance of it working you also decided to try and attack me with your claws instead of a spell. If you were going against someone who wanted to kill you, there would be no chance of your survival.” Simon seemed very disappointed.

“Then, what should I do?” I asked him as I had very little knowledge in this area.

“You are specialized in casting spells, not sneaking around with [Stealth] or charging forward like a Warrior. You should cast spells, if you get into a situation where casting spells is impossible then you should attack with your claws or teeth. Now, try again.” Simon ordered.

So I walked back to where I was, instead of getting closer however, I decided to cast [Earthen Spear] and imbue it with Earth mana.

It formed into a spear of rock that seemed sturdier than usual. I sent it towards Simon who promptly dodged it before saying, “Better but it was slow and easily avoidable. You could either make it faster or increase the amount so that it is much harder to avoid. Also, leveling up your spells is very important. Even a person with the most basic [Rock] can cause a massive amount of damage if it’s a high enough level.” Simon taught me so I listened.

We continued our fighting until the amount of time we had was over. I had managed to level up a few Skills and got some Stats. I even managed to level up [Assimilate Self] to level three.

I had ten Stat Points but Simon said I should save them along with my Skill Points.

While we were leaving, Simon suddenly stopped.

“Salem, do you remember when I told you that killing people isn’t allowed unless they attack you or your allies first? Do you also remember when I said there were exceptions? Well one of those exceptions is when someone wants to sabotage your home. Do you know what sabotage is?” Simon asked as his expression became more and more angry.

I thought about it and said, “Nope, I don’t know what sabotage is.”

“Well, sabotage is when someone damages something of yours with the intent of causing more harm later. Currently we have some saboteurs walking around. I think it’s a fairly good opportunity to test your abilities in some actual combat.”

Then Simon led me to a much smaller building than the one with the Contribution Wall or the arena.

Inside, it reminded me of where Simon had originally brought me which I assume was his house. So why exactly were we in another house?

Simon moved quickly and I found out why soon enough, there was a thing that reminded me of the things I had exploded at the one camp. However, this one was different, it was still a bunch of mana in one place but to me it felt more agitated and wanting to escape rather than stay inside the container.

“This is a mana bomb. Good ones are almost undetectable while bad ones have a tendency to explode in the user’s hand. This one has been slowly degrading and is almost ready to explode. I would assume that the people hiding it have been planning to place it in an important place such as the arena in order to cause as much chaos and casualties as possible. They won’t dare to leave it alone for too long so they should be returning soon. I want you to kill them all.” Simon told me and I felt no issues with his words.

The mana in the mana bomb seemed evil to me. It wanted to harm anything and everything which included me so why shouldn’t I kill the people responsible for making it?

So Simon and I waited in the home.

*****

“You ever wonder why this war doesn’t just end by one of the kingdoms using their compressed mana bombs?” I heard a noise from outside of the house. Followed by another noise.

“It doesn’t end that way because if one uses the bombs then the other will and everything will be gone.”

“I mean, that’s possible but if one side drops a bomb on the other sides’ bombs then wouldn’t there be no risk?”

“Do you think either kingdom is stupid enough to place all of their highly unstable and extremely powerful weapons in one place? Neither side is confident of destroying them all before one escapes.”

“Wasn’t there the compressed mana bomb explosion in the forward camp? Why hasn’t the kingdom attacked back?”

“For two reasons, the first is that it wasn’t an actual compressed mana bomb, just a chain reaction of mana batteries. The second is that no one important died. Sure a lot of regular soldiers are dead and a few lower ranking officers are dead but the general was unharmed and the rest of the officers merely need some time to rest and they’ll be fine.”

This was all very interesting information to me. So the things I had blown up at the camp were called mana batteries and there are things called compressed mana bombs which seem to be stronger versions of the mana bombs in this house.

Then the two people outside opened the door to see me and Simon. Simon just stood there because this was supposed to be a test for me.

“Oi! What are you-!” One of the two exclaimed before I sent five lava balls in his direction. He didn’t have time to scream in agony.

The second was more prepared and managed to put up a magic shield before the lava balls reached him. It managed to stop the five before it shattered.

I sent ten more towards him. He managed to scream in terror but still died instantly. I skimmed over the system messages informing me of the experience I had gained but it wasn’t anything important.

Simon turned to me and said, “Good but you had caught them by surprise and they were unprepared. Now you’re going to need to fight more than two in a frontal battle. Unless of course, my prediction fails.”

BOOM!

Simon seemed unfazed by the explosion and said, “However, it didn't, follow me.”

So I did.

*****

He led me back to the arena where there was a lot of screaming and people running out. I also heard the sounds of metal clashing and ice shattering which meant there was magic and normal combat going on inside.

“Now then, go in and kill everyone who attacks you or attacks the people helping you. I informed the guards about you so if they attack then they deserve death.” Simon told me and stopped walking.

I continued walking forwards to the arena. There was some smoke coming from inside meaning there was a fire but it was too small of an amount for anyone to care about it.

When I reached the doorway most people had already escaped and entering was easy. I saw a large amount of blood on the ground along with corpses dressed in varying clothing. Some were soldier uniforms others were civilian clothes while a few were robes that I could feel mana running through.

The sounds of fighting only got louder as I progressed inwards. When I reached the area with the marked off areas for fighting I saw a fairly large battle. It reminded me of the battle outside of the city but on a much smaller scale and there was no fighting in the sky or underground, it was just chaotic.

When I arrived quite a few people noticed me. Some were happy, others confused, a few were angry.

One of the angry ones shouted, “Why would a monster want to help the Kingdom of Faler!? They go around destroying the homes of monsters and animals alike!”

That person was a spell caster and sent an icicle towards me at a fairly high speed. I dodged to the side and responded with five lava balls.

The person who sent the icicle turned pale and put up a magic shield allowing the swordsman he was fighting against to get closer. The lava balls broke the shield but went no farther and the swordsman was close enough to attack.

The spell caster stood no chance and was easily killed. The swordsman proceeded to go and help another swordsman and a spell caster against a small group consisting of a swordsman, a person with a shield, and a spell caster.

After I helped kill the spell caster the expressions changed. Some of the happy ones became fearful, the confused ones split into fearful, angry, and happy, and one or two angry ones became happy.

I looked around and saw that no one else was trying to attack me so I went to help the swordsman I had helped before.

His group was slightly winning against the enemy so when my ten lava balls hit the person with a shield the friendly group easily won.

The group then went to help a few people who were fighting alone and with my help we managed to kill everyone who was fighting alone. Now all that was left was a large enemy group and a similarly sized friendly group.

Both groups stood facing each other not moving.

One of the people in my group said, “Surrender and you will be spared, resist and we will kill you.”

I feel like I should learn what the noises mean but that needs to be put off for later.

“Oh it’s just some nonsense about surrendering or death.” The familiar voice of Cyrus told me.

“That goes against what I am supposed to do here. Simon said to kill everyone who harmed me or my allies. I think these people are my allies.” I told Cyrus.

“So? It’s your choice. You can give them the chance to surrender or you can just attack them now and kill them all.” Cyrus said and I thought about it.

These people were related to the people who made the evil mana bomb. I don’t like those people or the bomb so why should I like these people and let them live?

The two sides were still making noises so I silently started casting a special spell. This spell was similar to [Dense Earthen Spear] but instead of one spear I made a cluster of them before releasing it into the natural mana.

Skill acquired: Quiet Casting Lv. 1

Skill created: Dense Earthen Spear Barrage Lv. 1

Earth Magic Lv. 1 → Earth Magic Lv. 2

The spears flew out and impacted the front line of the group. More came and hit the second line with some piercing through and hitting the final line of the group. No shields were put up and all of the people in the group were killed.

You have killed a large number of Sentient Race creatures with various levels.

Awarding experience. Bonus experience for killing a Sentient Race while being a monster.

You have leveled up.

Level 0 → Level 5

Title acquired: Merciless Mage

The people in my group who were originally making noises with the other group stared in shock and then turned to stare at me with fear.

“Ahahahah, good show. At least you’re doing part of your prophecy right. Keep it up and I’ll give you a reward. Now then, I have to go.” Cyrus said before I assumed he left.

At some point Simon walked in. He took a single glance at everything before walking towards the person who was making noises before.

“S-sir, we tried to… to make them surrender but… but your companion um, killed them all.” The person made very stuttered noises.

“Yes, I know that. I was the person who told Salem to kill them all. You really think we don’t have spies inside that would be able to get them out? It’s much easier to sacrifice someone who has already lost their worth rather than someone who still has some. Now then, clean the place up and search for anything hidden.” Simon said before walking towards me.

He had a smile on his face when he reached me, “Good job, I assume you got quite a bit of experience for this? You should be quite a bit stronger now. You’re going to need that soon but for now you should decide what you want to do with your Stat Points and Skill Points. You should focus on spending your Stat Points on Intelligence and Wisdom but your Skill Points are up to you.”

I thought about this and looked at how many Skill Points and Stat Points I had. I had 60 Stat Points and 15 Skill Points. It seems like the amount I got per level has doubled from five to ten for Stat Points and one to two for Skill Points.

Now then, what exactly do I spend them on?