Chapter 10

Lemrod’s POV

Having collected all the Phoenix core and infused them with my dark matter so I can store all this babies in my pocket dimension. I decided to travel west and see if I can find a cave somewhere to hole up in for the day, it shouldn’t be that uncomfortable since I can practically make anything out of dark matter; well almost anything. I smiled hearing Nyu's slow and steady breathing while he’s curled up like a scarf on the back of my neck. Surprisingly he’s quite warm considering he’s cold blooded, must be because of his flame attribute.

Having travelled quite far for two hours, I hear the ground trembling and vibrating. As if by instincts I jumped in the air using my legs that was enchanted by the dark matter. Having the sun facing towards in my direction, I instinctively use both arms to shield my eyes from the sun. Not quite sure on what’s going on yet I quickly unsummoned Nyu fearing for his life. In the short time that I have had him, which was only for two hours, I’ve grown quiet fond of Nyu so I didn’t want to take any chances.

The roar of an unknown beast snapped me out of my thoughts and made me look down on the ground, what I saw made me flinched as the mouth of the beast was inches away from my feet and I immediately curled my feet upwards hitting the back of my thigh instinctively. While descending down I created a platform in mid-air using dark matter and landed on top of it to observe my unknown opponent.

I cringed in disgust at what I saw. A giant worm covered in liquid green ooze that drips from its body, the liquid itself act similarly to acid as it burns away the leaves and grass on the ground. The mouth was big with a diameter of about sixty inches filled with lethal spikes as sharp as any sword and seemed to be well placed around its mouth for when it closes, the gaps on the sides of the teeth gets filled by the other spike all around the mouth, making it able to close its mouth completely.

“Well this day could have gone better” I muttered dejectedly. I guess I need to see how it fights and what kind of tricks it has at its sleeves. Eyeing up the green liquid oozing out of its teeth and body, I wouldn’t be surprise if it had to do with those.

While thinking of a strategy to use against this monster, I quickly gather the dark energy around the area and they swirl and swoosh around me like a mindless drone set on auto pilot. “Well let’s try this first”. A humanoid take shape on the side of me, it was my shadow clone and I created him some armour and weapon to increase its defence and offensiveness in combat. The great thing about this bad boy is that I can control its actions manually from afar although there is a limit on the distance during the day while the limit is removed at night.

Seeing the worm monster using its body to shape like a spring in order to increase its jumping height made me laugh as I’m too high up for him to reach, enrage by my action it sprayed green ooze out of its mouth that travels at the speed of sound. My shadow clone shifted his weight and sprinted in front of me to block the attack with his body. That attack alone destroyed my clone and made me think twice about my opponent. I shouldn’t underestimate this abomination, doing so might lead to my early death, I grimaced inwardly at my naivety. Unused to combat, thinking because I had the high ground and it can’t reach me I was safe. I realised that I have to change and adjust my mentality soon. The world has changed and there’s not a safe place anywhere so I have to be vigilant.

Creating two shadow clones this time, I jumped down with them while I set the clones on auto pilot to just attack the beast when they see fit and dodge the attack if they’re in danger. Not following my shadow minions, while descending I imagined a skate board and made it so it will be powered by my dark matter. Thus creating the shadow board.

Shadow Board: Created by using Dark Matter Manipulation. +25 Speed

Dark Matter Manipulation level up to level 11

“WHHOOOOOOOO!!!” I shouted in excitement, feeling the sharpness of the wind upon my face. It’s cold touch making me relax while I think of ways to end my opponent’s life. My dark blazer fluttering with the wind making the loose fabric fly behind me, my black long hair pushed back while I glide around the giant worm beast waiting for an opening.

The beast distracted by the weird movements that I was making , while gliding, eyed me cautiously. Its eyes transfixed on my silhouette, after watching and observing my movement for a minute, the beast finally decided to attack and sprayed me with the liquid ooze. I danced around its clumsy attack as I twist and turn, leaning my body to appropriate positions to dodge his incoming attacks.

My shadow clones took notice of the opportunity I was creating for them and charge silently like a ghost towards the giant worm. They both raised their sword in an identical manner, pointing it forwards. The point of the sword directed in a thrusting position. Using their leg muscles, body muscles and arm muscles to deliver a strong thrust to puncture the beast skin.

Moments later, a horrific shriek from the beast filled the surrounding area. Finally noticing the shadow clones as their sword is stuck in the beast skin and the green ooze proceeds to melt their shadow swords. Without any wasted movement, the beast immediately lunge down and devoured the clones angrily. Its eyes glowing red to emphasize its anger towards while staring at me.

I smiled to return the favour, enraging the worm even more. The bottom of its neck continued to gush out in liquid ooze, creating a small puddle around him. “It seems that the ooze itself was its life force and the worm uses it as a weapon”

Noticing that the giant worm’s wounds were closing slowly of its own accord, I clicked my tongue annoyed at its auto regeneration ability.

“I didn’t think that kind of thing was possible but I guess this is not the old earth anymore”. Not allowing the beast to recover fully, I created a giant axe bigger than the beast itself, intending to split the beast in half. Using the shadow board as a stepping stone, I jumped down, holding on to the heavy handle of the giant axe, intending to take advantage of the law of gravity.

The beast seeing my attack tried to dodge but the heavy mass of the axe accelerated my descent and cleanly indulged itself on the beast innards as it travels downwards cleanly. The worm’s hardened muscles couldn’t prevent the giant axe from completely slicing it in half.

As if denied food for a long period of time, the dark matter proceeded to gorge itself on the life force of the slain beast as if it was a five star meal. I stood there awkwardly, my face contorted in bewilderment and surprise at the spectacle that was happening in front of me. I have a feeling that I should be scared by this or at least be worried at why and how my dark matter seem to have a will of its own when it comes to consuming blood but somehow I’m not even bewildered or bothered by the current events. I sigh while putting a hand on my face and shaking my head left and right. I just remembered that I have always been this type of guy. An entity that accepts situation as long as it doesn’t endanger my life or anyone close to me.

Noticing that the dark matter seem to have finish lapping up the life force of the worm beast, I looked at the ground and smiled wryly. “Even the liquid on the ground was lapped up, you must have been hungry huh?” I uttered quietly in a surprise voice.

“Oh well time to move on” I announced to no one in particular while grabbing the beast core and putting it inside my pocket dimension.

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I’ve been travelling for a few weeks now and Nyu has gotten a lot bigger than before. I wasn’t exactly sure on how to use the monster core to upgrade my companion so I tried what first comes to mind; making Nyu eat it. To be honest I come up with this idea because of an inspiration from my dark matter who seems to get slightly stronger whenever they consume the blood of the beast that I have slain. From the few weeks I’ve been travelling, I’ve come across a number of slain beast that are either recently slain or rotting with their blood intact. Oddly the dark matter didn’t go ballistic and devour the slain beast blood, it just ignored it. The ones I slain however is a different story, after I killed my opponent, the dark matter immediately cast its attention towards it and devour it in a blink of an eye. Odd right?

Nyu can ingest the monster core but there seems to be a limit on how many he could take. Nyu uses the monster core as a food source and gets full easily because of his small size. Depending on the rank of the monster core, the easier or harder its satiety gets filled to the brim. Nyu can eat fifty Phoenix Chicken monster core a day while only digesting two Giant Worm monster core satisfies him for the days duration. During the course of our travel, Nyu did a lot of growing and he’s now the size of a horse so I tend to hide him in public, just in case people gets wary of him and kill him on accident, thinking that he’s a wild beast.

“Here’s the cider you ordered” a well-dressed maid with a pleasant voice informed me, enabling me to break out of my deep thoughts and focused on my surroundings again. I seem to have develop a habit of doing that lately, well I can’t really blame myself, there’s a lot to learn and in terms of information, I’m behind the times.

“Thanks” I replied. Taking the drink from her and appreciating her appearance as I do so. She giggled as she noticed me casually checking her out, so I winked at her and she snorted in surprise, her cheeks blushing. Having finished her job she immediately headed to the bar to get more drinks for the other customer.

Taking my eyes off her, I paid attention to my sparkly drink. Taking a sip and closing my eyes as I do so, I shuddered as the strong strawberry flavour invaded my mouth and giving my taste bud a well-deserved massage.

I sigh in contentment.

I’m in a town called Scorpio, which is South East from the city of Norwell.

The inn I’m currently staying in is situated at the edge of town so it’s not really popular. Concerning money, it’s possible to sell monster cores so that’s what I did considering I have hundreds in my pocket dimension. The town is heavily guarded by its guardian who seems to be a saint that can tame monsters that are weaker than him. This town was rebuilt on his orders and he protected the people here during the rebuilding process. The town was then renamed Scorpio base on the beast he tames. Yep you guessed it, he tames Scorpions.

The ten giant Scorpions are position strategically outside of town and they roamed around their perimeter, attacking any wild monster that came too close to the town.

Finishing my beloved drink I headed out of the inn pushing the double doors open. The noisy atmosphere and the amount of people was having an effect me, not used to that kind of atmosphere and the amount of people, I feel slightly uncomfortable and out of place.

My objective today is to go the Guild office and register as an adventurer. According to what I have gathered so far, the Adventurer’s guild was recently formed with the help of many Saints with peculiar powers that could bend the will of the earth and transmute various objects into different materials. This help the Adventurers guild take flight as different guild branches was built in various cities and towns. Different Branches were governed by different Guild masters chosen by the King for their strength and valour.

The guilds hires adventurers to help control the pest which are wild monsters that are rampaging around the landscapes causing problems for villages, towns and even cities. Surprisingly dungeons have been discovered and they seem to have appeared in different areas around the continent. This was thought to be the work of the white lights.

“Looks like the fun’s about to start” I muttered excitedly as the four story building came into view as well as the amount of people lined up to be a member. Most members that joins are probably saints.

Gazing at the azure sky, I could feel that things were about to get stranger as time goes on. The white lights objectives and what they want is still unclear.