I sit down and look up at the clear night skies.

It's been a couple of days since I’ve awoken with this new body of mine. I continue to plan my vengeance on Lilith while taking care of Charles. However, I knew doing something like killing Lilith would take many years of training. So I put aside the thought and decided to put my efforts into caring for Charles.

But as time goes on, I realize that everything about me is different now. The way I think, the way I act, the way I handle things, and how my body reacts to situations.

For example, when I was walking through a forest to take off some steam, I felt some weird feeling build up within me. Then my body reacted by itself, and before I noticed, I was holding shut a wolf's mouth with one hand.

I guess I have to thank this skill for saving me there.

Natural Instincts

Description: Follow the instincts of the body you are born with to sense/see if any beings nearby are far greater than you or weaker.

Requirements: Feel a sense of dread when faced with a superior being.

Type: Passive

Effects: Get this feeling of dread when a potential threat or entity is near. The amount of dread one feels depends on the strength of the opponent. The feeling will disable when not engaged in combat with that one entity for 10 seconds.

Usage: None

Cooldown: None

The higher level this skill is, the more extensive the sensible range. The range will expand every 2 meters per level.

I found this skill rather valuable for many situations, such as sensing if one entity is near me or not. The rest… is up to you to make an example of this skill. The current range of this skill is six meters, initially four since it leveled when I faced Lilith.

I sigh, then look up at the moon.

We're far away from Lexigon, around sixty miles or so. How do I know this? Lilith had said this to me, even though I tried to ignore her.

And, of course, she was right. No matter where I went within the forest that surrounded us, all it led to was more forest. Not only that, I stumbled upon a monster that is difficult to deal with as well.

Slimes.

They may not sound strong, but I ask for you to trust me; they're powerful against physical-only fighters. They take reduced damage from physical hits. Not only that, if you don’t hit their core within them, their hit points will always stay at one. That isn’t the only thing annoying about them. They can regenerate. So even if you cut them apart into tiny pieces of themselves, they will recollect their bits to become big again. They're acidic as well, meaning if they are a high enough level, they can digest and melt armor instantly.

There is so much more to explain about them, but it’s probably best to explain more about them when engaging in battle.

Anyways, back to the forest itself, it’s around the ten to twenty level range and full of monsters that can quickly kill an ordinary villager. From my experience, there must be around ten to fifteen species in this forest, and maybe a few dungeons as well, but I need to explore more to be sure.

Lilith’s Perspective:

While Aden is spacing out and thinking, I lustfully stare at him.

"He’s so cute!" I think to myself as my mouth starts to drool, "This is a huge success! Not only is Aden much cuter now, thanks to his charisma, but he is also part of one of the most dangerous species on this planet! A dragon, a tier eight monster that can destroy kingdoms! Such a species is now my pet!

The monster tier is a list also known as a ranking system, telling how strong one species is. For instance, my original monster class is a tier five, a monster tier that is dangerous to fight against unless you’re level fifty or above combat class. Of course, tiers higher than five will need to be fought in groups as they are too much to handle alone.

The monster tier shows or estimates how strong that one species is. However, that doesn’t mean that one species stays at that one tier. They can evolve out of that tier and become even more powerful than their previous variants. Which is why I get excited about having Aden when I think, "What if Aden trains long enough and becomes a tier ten?"

The feeling arouses me. Unfortunately, I can’t expect this to happen anytime soon. All I need to think and worry about is the present.

I miss my old self, always on point and focused, but I began to grow these fetishes that gave me joy as time went by. Blood, gore, torture, the screams of a person under my foot. Thanks to these fetishes, I can’t concentrate unless I have fun for the day.

For now, I’ll just think about what I should do next for Aden. Maybe find a way to get his so-called best friend killed.

As I thought this, Aden called out to me, “Lilith.”

I'll put the thought aside. My future lover is asking me a question ~ ♡.

Main Perspective:

“Yes, Aden ~ ♡?” She turns to see me standing next to her. I feel like puking. Here I am asking a question from the person who killed everyone I loved. Luckily, it doesn’t seem like she minds answering my questions, so I don’t mind abusing this.

I have asked her why she kept Charles and me alive, but all she said was, “It’s a secret, ok ~ ♡?”

So, for now, I’ll just ask questions that Charles is unable to answer at the moment, “I have a question; it’s about my class.”

“Oh, you mean your Monster Class?”

I blinked in confusion at this unknown name, “Monster Class?”

“Never heard of it?”

“I mean, I get it, but what’s with the name?”

“Don’t ask me; I have nothing to do with it.”

After that, she begins explaining why my class is like this. It’s called a Monster Class, a mixture of a monster's race and a combat class.

A combat class is what it sounds like, a class used for combat. Warrior, Archer, Rogue… you get the point. You can only have two combat classes, which sucks.

Anyways, that explains what a combat class is, now for Monster Class. Like I said, a mixture of both monster and non-monster. It was a particular case in the past, but it became customary for monsters later on. No one ever really thought about monsters since they're just a compacted body of flesh filled with exp points, but after discovering Monster Classes, it made sense to many things.

For example, a boss or mini-boss in dungeons is much stronger even though they are the same level as you.

Beginning to see what I mean? Yeah, it made me realize many things too. This is, however, knowledge only monsters know.

Thought non-monsters knew? No, why? Because apparently, they're still too worried about themselves instead of researching monsters. The Scribe class won’t work on monsters since all it shows is gibberish, but if the monster scribes another monster. The other way around will happen the same way. A monster can’t see the stats of a non-monster as well. But… Here's a special case. If you happen to have a Monster Class, you'll be able to see both an average persons' stats and monsters' stats.

Anyways, enough of that, let me finish this quickly.

A Monster Class scales how much stats your combat class and monster tier go up each level. For instance, a tier eight monster gets 8+ all stats per level, as a tier one combat class gets 2/2/1.

(Warrior: Strength/Agility/Endurance 2/2/1)

Combining the first number in the combat class and adding it to the monster tier. Then there you go, you get 10+ all per level. I’m basing it on me since I get around 10+ all stats at each level.

How do I know this? Lilith told me. She did since I didn’t understand how levels work yet.

After Lilith had finished explaining this to me, I began walking to Charles, who was resting on a patch of hay in the open. His arm is fully healed thanks to Lilith using some kind of healing magic; otherwise, he’s still recovering after what had happened. So in the meantime, I have to make sure nothing comes out and attacks us. Well, on this small hill, that is.

Lilith made all of this after she deemed this small hill good enough to camp on. The flat stone surface I’m standing on is all made by Lilith and Drezzan. The poor hill used to have a pointy top, but parts of it got sliced off to make a flat surface with no bumps to stand and lay on. I don’t know what magic Lilith used to make such a flat surface, but I don’t care at this point.

It makes me pissed as well. Now I have to repay Lilith for both sparing me and Charles, not only that, for giving us a place to keep safe.

The fire continues to burn in the middle of the stone surface campsite. I continue to look through my stats and skills as I sit next to Charles, who is now almost entirely covered in the hay to avoid the cold.

Compared to Heavy Swing, which I don't have anymore, Draconic Heavy Swing has the same description, but the stats are… different.

Draconic Heavy Swing

Description: Swing with all your might, doing more damage than normal swings will.

Requirements: Draconic Warrior (level 5), Any melee weapon.

Type: Skill

Effects: Deal 50% more damage when skill makes contact.

Usage: 10 Rage

Cooldown: 5 Seconds.

The skill’s damage will increase by 4% per level. Rage usage will decrease by 1 per two levels.

The scaling is way higher now. Not only that, but its actual base damage has also increased, which makes this skill even more threatening. Same swinging motion and timing, just more deadly.

Then there’s Morph and Natural Armor.

Natural Armor

Description: Use the armor-like skin you’re born with to take less damage from deadly abilities.

Requirements: Born as an armored species.

Type: Passive

Effects: Take 10% less damage from physical attacks. Take 5% less damage from magical attacks.

Usage: None

Cooldown: None

Gain 2% more resistance toward physical attacks per level. Gain 1% more resistance towards magical attacks per level.

Morph

Description: As a person with two types of bodies within you, you can morph and change which kind of body you’d prefer using this skill.

Requirements: Become a person with two types of bodies within themselves.

Type: Skill

Effects: Change any part of your body with the species within you.

Usage: 1% of your HP.

Cooldown: None

The higher level this skill is, the more parts of your body you can change with one use of this skill.

There are so many effective uses for these two skills that I think I will have an easier life. Of course, there is only one skill left; this one, however, is pretty self-explanatory… and dangerous at the same time.

Morph Overtake

Description: Allow your inner being to take total control of you and allow it to destroy anything standing.

Requirement: Be a person related to two types of species, one being a potential non-aggressive species, while the other the opposite.

Effects: Switch consciousness with your inner being and restore all Hp, Mana, Rage, and Stamina. After the duration is over, you will be forced to lose consciousness.

Type: Skill

Usage: None

Duration: 5 min.

Cooldown: 1 day.

The higher level this skill is, the more you can keep yourself in control. Or to tell what your inner being can or cannot do.

This skill will be a sort of ‘final resort’ skill. I even asked Lilith how to make use of this skill, and she responded, “It’s a final resort. I recommend that you don’t use it unless you don’t have any allies near you.”

I’m going to admit. It’s weird talking so casually towards the person who slaughtered everyone you loved. But I’m not going to doubt that this is part of the effects of the red orb. It most likely deluded my sense of common sense, especially my overall emotions. Every time I think about Layli’s death, I… just don’t feel much from it. Don’t get me wrong; I feel pissed off just thinking about it. But… that sense of hatred disappears in a matter of seconds.

And for some weird reason, I feel like erasing that memory. I feel like it would affect my overall focus on my objectives. Though if I do… I’ll feel like a heartless person. I know I’ll feel that way if I do such a thing, but… no matter how much I refuse to forget it, I still feel like it’s best to remove it from my head entirely.

I don’t know what’s happening in my head anymore; the only thing I know is that the orb controls my emotions.

Even with everything scrambling up in my head, there is still one clear goal, kill Lilith. The thought of those two words fills my mind with happiness, but right now, I’m far from capable of being able to do such a thing.

For now, all I need to do is get stronger. That's why I’m checking through every single ounce of information I can get from my status and skills. Of course, I need to take care of Charles first. From there, Charles can help me get more powerful. However, I should probably help him get stronger first. By now, I’ve nearly surpassed him in every base attribute except intelligence. So for now, I need to help Charles get stronger somehow, then afterward, I’ll ask him to help me in return.

Besides, I’m not going to be the only one who will try to kill Lilith; I doubt I’ll be the only one trying to kill her anyway.

After I finish checking my status and skills, I check through my titles.

Titles:

Young Laborer

Young Adventurer

Sealed Potential

The First Dragonkin

Once Human

There are two new titles: The First Draconian and Once Human.

Once Human

Description: There are things many don’t need to know about. This title is given to humans who are no longer human.

Requirements: Be originally human, but change into another race.

All Attributes +1

The First Dragonborn

Description: The Deities knew that a being would turn part dragon one day. This title is given to a mortal who’s not only their original race but also a dragon.

Requirement: Have your race be a Dragonborn and be the first-ever.

All Attributes +10

Of course, there are also the two titles I’ve obtained before the past events.

Young Laborer

Description: Given to many who begin harsh labor at a young age.

Requirements: Begin doing labor 13 years or younger.

STR +5 DEX +5 AGL +5 END +5

Young Adventurer

Description: Given to many brave juveniles who do not fear the unknown.

Requirements: Get your first combat job at the age of 13.

PEr +5 WILL +5 LUCK +2

Then… there's this title.

Sealed Potential

Description: This title is given to people who have sealed potential. To unlock one’s sealed potential is to do specific actions.

Requirements: ???

I’ve had this ever since, and of course, I’ve tried many things to unlock this sealed potential. However, it all ended with no results. I didn’t tell Charles about this either since I wanted it to surprise him.

Of course, however, I got tired of waiting and decided to ask Lilith about this one. There was no possible way to trigger this title from what she had said. All I need to do is continue living normally. Which is pretty easy to do, honestly, unless you’re some depressed person, then good luck, man/ma’am, I’m cheering you on!

I close every menu in my mind, then continue looking at the moon.

"Tomorrow, I’ll continue exploring the forest. I don’t know its name since Lilith doesn’t pay attention to any of that stuff. However, I bet Charles knows, so I’ll ask him when he wakes up," I thought to myself, "For now… all I need to do is rest up and then get ready for tomorrow."

I lay down next to Charles and close my eyes.

Dreams… are nothing but false hopes.

They betray you, they torture you, they kill you.

No matter what kind of light you shine upon those dreams, they will just swallow them up and bring darkness again.

A boy with golden fox-like ears and tail looks upon a city.

Dreams will slowly devour you until you are nothing.

A small pink slime reflects some moonlight upon a green-skinned girl.

Thanks to these dreams, this world is now filled with greed and hatred.

A girl with short blue hair and white scarf breaths in and out and enters a guild house.

That is why…

A princess with bright, long, red, twin-tailed hair looks down upon sacrificial grounds.

All dreams…

A young black-haired boy covered with blood kneels to his master.

Should be erased.

???:

And so it begins, an adventure with a dark future ahead. No matter how many times you see this, it excites you, doesn't it?

...

Silent as usual, huh? Well, it doesn't matter. This is just their first step. The next trial is already about to begin.

...

Hehe... Let's see how far this playthrough goes, shall we?