Traveling along the dirt road through the forest, Jack felt that it might have been a good idea keeping the carriage intact, instead of selling it for scraps, but what's done was done, and now he was traveling for two days already with no one in sight, until recently.

Jack had encountered a small camp of people, who seemed to be talking in an unknown language, of unknown origin, with quite a bit of laughter and occasional obscene gesture mixed in the conversation. By the looks of the people, Jack deemed them being bandits of sorts, and rather careless bandits at that, though there weren't many of them in the first place, but that didn't mean something couldn't attack them in the thick of a night.

It was actually best option for Jack at the moment. If he was correct about his abilities, then he would be able to learn their language immediately after using his on them. But he didn't know how long it will take him to process the information, which might leave him comatose. On the other hand, learning a language was a priority, so if there was a chance of learning language overnight, then he would be a fool not to take advantage of that.

Though he lacked information to blindly rush in and ravage through minds of his unfortunate victims. For one, he didn't know how long the process of mind snacking would take, then he didn't know the capabilities of these people, and he wasn't sure they were bandits, not that it would matter if they weren't, he wasn't as hypocritical as to pretend that he cared about collateral damage.

Sighing, Jack decided to go with the undead monster attack, for it he took one of the bellymouth demons from his inventory and dropped it at some place far enough away from his targets. Quick cast of [Raise Dead] spell, and he already got himself an undead minion, ready to obey him in everything.

Climbing on a tree, and sitting in a way he wouldn't fall off, Jack took control of the undead he just created, and went in the direction of his targets. It was slightly offputting initially, but similarly to his half and full wyvern forms, he just had to get accustomed to the changes. Though before he could get accustomed to them, he noticed an impact sending his demon off balance.

“D̵͈̿e̶̘̽a̸̢̔m̶͕̃h̴̖̅ą̷̛n̵̻͆!” Jack 'heard' an invisible attacker shout in an unintelligeble language, and decided to filter out all of the sounds he heard through demon, as it made his head hurt. The sense of touch was somewhat dulled, if not absent entirely, maybe as the demon was an undead, or it was to protect his mind from sensory overload, considering the demon was twice his size. Then again, he had no idea if it was the case, but the fact he barely felt the arrow sticking from the demon's limb was odd.

It also seemed that the bandits actualy were smart enough and had a sentry, or two, guarding the camp, as there was only one attacking him, but it won't be for long, and soo, others might join in on the fight, so he had to kill the enemy as fast as possible. Fortunately, Bellymouth demons were actually quite fast, and with his current stats, the undead was in no danger for the moment.

Gaining on the position of an attacker, which was rather hard to pinpoint due to the lack of hearing and dimmed lights, not to mention lack of minimap, it took Jack six seconds to notice his targets, and then twenty to close the distance between them, and then, with a quick punch, the archer was thrown into a tree, knocking him unconscious, as it was unlikely for demon to kill someone with that punch. Jack thought about killing the archer outright, but he needed them for the harvesting process, calling it mindrape was a bit gross in his opinion.

But he couldn't think for it for long, as the ball of fire was aiming for the demon's face, which was located in the abdominal region. The new opponent was most likely a mage, and as demon turned to face the newcomer, it got a stab to the shoulder. The look of shock on yet another newcomer was priceless, as the demon grabbed him with his massive arms and squeezed until the warrior fell limp on the ground, with the mage casting some sort of light based spell.

Jack didn't fear it at all, as the bandits proved to be barely capable of damaging demon, despite him losing 10% of his total health points. They were weak, way too weak to pose a threat to him, and Jack felt he was a bit too cautious regarding the first encounter. Therefore, he decided to let the demon handle the adventurers by himself, with an order of doing what was necessary, while Jack was closing in on them to partake in the festivities.

As he was nearing however, Jack decided to summon two sprites made of darkness, to 'even' the odds a little. He wanted as many people captured as possible, so he would have more chances at learning the language they were speaking. Much to his annoyance however, the sprites didn't prove very effective, as the moment they closed in on the mage, one of them was obliterated with the light spell, while the other one managed to choke the said mage with... something. But it was enough for Jack for the moment. However, he didn't want to leave any witnesses, and the demon, along with the sprite, went after the survivors, as Jack came closer towards the bandits, so he could bound them up and get them to the more or less safe area, where he would then harvest their memories, and, hopefully, learn their language.

Much to his annoyance, there was one person who decided to sneak on Jack as his minions went after the survivors. Though he didn't understand what one person could do against him, so Jack used his to hide presence and gain limited invisibility. Much to his surprise, the man was unarmed, not even carrying a staff like a mage, and instead, was keen on finding the archer, mage and warrior his minions knocked out. Shrugging, Jack decided to switch into his half-wyvern form, which didn't feel that bad to be in now, and lunged at the man.

“F̷͈͒u̵̦͌i̶̙͘ŕ̶̭i̶͎͑c̸̺̉h̶̘̾,̸͍͝ ̴̟̏n̸͕̓å̶͉ ̸̝̂d̶͈͛è̵͎͊a̸̹͝n̷͒ͅ!” Jack didn't know what the man was saying, and, considering the fact his minions were still pretty much alive, decided to activate his on the man pinned down.

*

“Are you sure it's a good idea?” I heard Rhys asking once more. “Maybe they actually taking longer than expected? Why would guild send us just after a week of their abscense? Thell them Aidan.” Aidan, the defacto leader of the hunter team looked at the ranger and shrugged.

“Couldn't decline the offer. But it's just a scouting mission, we're no near the level of B̸a̸l̶g̶a̷n̵b̵u̵a̴c̵h̴a̷i̸r̴ team.” Aidan shook his head. “Guild was concerned that they couldn't contact them through the divination orb, so we are going in to check if something happened.”

“Why not someone like U̷i̴r̵s̶g̶e̵u̸l̶ go after them?”

“Unfortunately, U̷i̴r̵s̶g̶e̵u̸l̶ are tasked with a more important mission.” I finally speak my voice. “Therefore the S̶e̵a̶l̷g̵a̵i̶r̸ guild ordered us two to accompany you. This will also serve as your first of the two promotional tasks.” If they act accordingly, but I am not allowed to help them during the investigation.

“But you two-”

“Are not trackers.” Niall chimed in. “While Keir here is actually a noble, so he's pretty much useless.”

“Acolyte of the G̶h̴r̵i̸a̷n̸.”

“Yes, basically he can only collect taxes and perform miracles in exchange for gold.” this made the members of I̶ì̶o̵b̸a̴i̷r̸t̵ laugh, with Noor choking on her stew.

“I'll scout the area, while you guys prepare camp.” was what Zayn said as he left the campfire.

“What was it about?”

“There were rumors of monster attacks for quite some time, and B̸a̸l̶g̶a̷n̵b̵u̵a̴c̵h̴a̷i̸r̴ took the task to investigate said rumors.” Niall said, looking at me.

“We believe they found an U̶a̷i̷m̴h̵.” Everyone at the campfire looked at me in disbelief. “We are here to investigate if it is the case, and to send for the T̸ù̸s̴a̶i̴r̴e̸ if it's the case.”

“S̷ì̴o̴l̵ ̶a̷i̸r̵ ̴m̸a̵i̵d̴e̵.” Rhys says as he looks frightened. “M̴a̴l̶l̴a̵i̴c̷h̵t̷e̴ U̶a̷i̷m̴h̵! This close to the city?!”

“It might be a boon, more than a curse.” I see people grow nervous, but that is what it is. “Guild and E̷a̸g̵l̴a̸i̴s̴ ordered us as such, and we have to oblige.”

“I don't want anything to do with it. I'm out.”

“Rhys.” he shat up, but still quivered. “You're overreacting.”

“I'm sorry Aidan, but I am not going there. I...” suddenly, I feel unease. “We need to leave.”

“Priest?”

“Something is wrong...” I never had this feeling before. Only when I-

“DEMON!” we all hear the shout of Zayn, and armed ourselves, with Aidan and Noor rushing in.

“Demon in here?”

“We... we need to leave.” Rhys muttered. “They're coming... demons... they...” I feel on the mana, but don't notice the difference, like what demons are supposed to do.

“D̶̛̯ỉ̵ͅȃ̶̳ ̵̝͌a̶͓͝n̸̖̑ ̸̜͊ẗ̸̼-̸͖͆s̴͔͊ơ̶̯l̶̹̃ả̶̡ỉ̷̘s̴̩͋,̷͚̇ ̵̣̀f̸̺́a̶̗͒s̸͉͊g̷͕̕ā̷͖d̴̤̃h̴̟̅ ̵̺̽d̸͇͆h̷͇͑a̸͝ͅi̸͖̐b̶̢̔h̷̒͜s̶͔̓ả̸̫n̶̪̅ ̶̖͊f̵͈̊o̴̠͘ ̴̱̊d̵̖̒ô̶͔ ̶̳̕s̴̞͘h̴̬͆ò̶̦l̵͈̃a̴͜͠s̵̨̍.” I chant so Rhys would finally get ahold of himself.

“What-” Niall slaps Rhys as the spell takes effect.

“Return to the city. There are always more demons lurking around. Now!” He shouts at Rhys, who quickly starts running back to the city. “We should try and save others, if something goes wrong-”

“S̸̬͌ò̸ͅi̸̤̕l̵͓̽l̵̢̅s̴̱̔ĩ̷̟c̶̳̔h̷̦͝ ̷̦̆å̴͖n̴͠ͅ ̸͓͆t̸̗̓-̸̨̏s̸͙̈́ḽ̴͑i̸̤̒g̵̗͛h̷͓̃e̴̤̔ ̸̱͋a̴͕͊i̷̠͌r̴͙̆ ̴͙̐a̴͇͒ŗ̵̂ ̸͠ͅt̴̜͐u̸͓͆r̶̤̎a̶̜͛s̷̳̉.” I chant once more, and see how Niall looks more dazzling than usually. “D̷͈͛ì̶̱̈o̸͋ͅn̶̡̕a̷̗͋i̶͔͊d̶͕͆h̶̭̆ ̸̖̄a̷͈̍ ̵̺͆’̷̦̔g̴͚͑h̸͚̐r̸̦̐ȋ̷̹a̸̘̓n̴̨̾ ̷͉̍ȁ̸͍n̵̗͐ ̶̨̆f̶̢̀h̶̙̓ē̸̯ȃ̴̤d̷̤͝h̶̬͋á̸̢ì̴͎n̵̻̿ṅ̴͙ ̸̙͠a̴̡̚ ̴̥̇t̸͖͊ḧ̵̢́a̴͓͊ ̷̪̚f̶̞͝o̷͍̒ ̴̧̚a̶̼͛ ̶̘̿d̴̟͐e̷̮͝à̸͎̀r̴̻̂r̴̰̃s̸̖͝ả̸̯d̶͖̚h̸̳̓.” and with this he should have an edge fighting the dark forces.

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“I will need you to help others. Come we should-” Niall shut abruptly as the massive figure appeared out of the clearing. “RUN!”

“I̶t̶h̴e̵a̸d̸a̴i̶r̸ ̷f̶e̴ò̷i̶l̴. You have no-”

“RUN YOU FOOL!” and so I ran... but then I remembered that these demons, the I̶t̶h̴e̵a̸d̸a̴i̶r̸ ̷f̶e̴ò̷i̶l̴, while powerful, are quite common summons of the powerful warlocks. Which meant, that Zayn, Aidan and Noora could still be fighting other demons. Warlocks rarely have more than one of them as escorts, as they have ravenous appetites, and don't mind consuming lesser demons, like I̷a̶l̵t̶ ̸r̴u̸a̸d̴h̵. If we can counterattack and pin down the I̶t̶h̴e̵a̸d̸a̴i̶r̸ ̷f̶e̴ò̷i̶l̴, then we could all survive. If not... the demons will catch up to me.

With these thoughts I ran towards the place where Zayn first shouted, in hopes I could find them there, but as I near the place, I don't hear the sound of battle, instead I see Zayn lying on the ground, with Aidan and Noora nowhere in sight.

I drop on my knees, praying for Zayn to still be alive, and much to my relief, he is still alive, but unconscious. Most likely warlock didn't finish the job as Aidan and Noora came just in time to rescue him. Then what about-

I feel a searing pain in my back, as I fall down on the snow covered ground, and something rolls me over. And then I see it, the creature's silhouette, or rather creature, with it's skin darker than night, it's glowing yellow eyes staring deep into my soul. I just hope-

*

Jack recoiled from the person he used his ability on. It seemed that this... Zayn, was a priest of some sorts. At least that was his impression from the glimpse he just saw. This was an interesting experience, to relieve someone memories, but Jack quickly discarded the thought. It was an interesting dynamic flashback sequence.

Partial spell formula acquired

Brave Heart

Completion 68%

Resistance to fear.

Empower

Completion 58%

Temporary increase to abilities.

Cure

Completion 42%

Cure diseases and poisons.

Heal

Completion 39%

Heal injuries.

Divine Protection

Completion 4%

Protection from evil.

Jack noted the new screen appearing before him, and shrugged. The information each spell had was too little to go with, not to mention the percentage of 'completion'. It seems like he would have to find a few more spellcasters to finish up appropriating their spells. It was also curious as to why he only learned these five spells, but deciding not to dwell on it for too long, Jack first decided to check the time.

“Only a minute passed... but I used all of my remaining mana.” Jack looked at his mana reserves, which were around 6'000 when he activated his mind stealing ability. “Oh well.” Jack looked at the corpse and used his [Soul Harvest] on it, which recovered a bit over a thousand mana. “Bullshit. Demons give more. Fuck, am I supposed to use soul orbs?” Jack asked no one in particular as he looked at the three bound people and shrugged. “Hm... keep ranger alive, I guess?” Jack said and consumed the soul orb, before getting closer to the mage. “Never felt conflicted about killing people before... probably will start with mage anyway. I need to see if there are any spells I can learn from her.”

*

Jack tapped his leg as he waited for the archer to wake up. It was long and annoying process, considering it took him less than two minutes to deal with the other two people, the mage by the name of Noora and warrior by the name of Aidan. Of course, there was another... person, with dubious background, but it seemed to be a knight of some sorts, though it wasn't very 'knighty', if it could be said so.

Unfortunately for Jack, for some reason, absorbing memories of others came at a cost of his own sanity. Initially he ignored the implication, thinking nothing of it, but after he consumed the mind of Noora, it seemed that her experiences somehow changed his attitude, for a few hours at least, afterwards he returned to normal.

At least his head was not hurting anymore, and he didn't have the urge to cry when he saw warrior. The two seemed awfully close, and it annoyed him to no end, but at the same time, he managed to acquire a few unfinished spells and moves from the three of them.

The mage, Noora provided him with a few ice spells, like ice shard and ice javelin, frostfire and lightning, as well as increasing his meditation, mana sense and mana manipulation by a few levels, bringing them up to 7, 7 and 9 respectfully. He might have used the mage, but so far, he will have to work with her corpse. Tough like with the healer, the spells were 'incomplete', whatever that meant.

Warrior, Aidan, provided him with swordsmanship skill at level 8, and two 'active' skill, [Ethereal Slash], which used mana to create an edge on the weapon, which then would travel along the direction of a slash, and [Power slash], which coated the weapon in a thin layer of mana, making it sharper, or something, he wasn't entirely sure how it worked.

The knight, Niall, was actually slightly odd one out of all of them, as after absorbing his mind, there was no increase in swordsmanship, and even removed some of his skills, and turned them into close quarters combat III, with no way of changing it at all. Surprisingly, this also added one more 'active' skill, [Resonance Strike], which, at least how Jack understood it, as the skill itself didn't provide any flavor text, caused the weapon and target to vibrate, dealing increased damage to hard objects, and lowered damage to soft objects. Probably he didn't see the flavor text as it wasn't exactly 'his' skill just yet.

Regardless of what he gained, Jack felt that keeping these three corpses was a sound idea, as they might prove to be good enough for creating powerful undead, at some point. Now question was whether he would keep the corpse of an archer, or sell it for credits, but he decided to keep him as well. After all, fantasy party was supposed to consist of a warrior, cleric, and Niall was close to paladin in his opinion, archer, or Zayn, and mage.

“Where... who are you? Why am I-” much for Jack's relief, he knew the language Zayn was speaking in.

“You will answer my questions, hummie.” Jack said fluently in whatever language Zayn was speaking, except for the hummie part, which felt similarly to UT, or universal translator, which couldn't always translate slurs or dialects, keeping the part untranslated.

“Do you know-”

“This you will tell me, if you wish for a conversation. Otherwise, I am more keen on extracting information the old fashioned way.” Jack said as he looked in the eyes of Zayn.

“I...”

“Your kind, and by extension, you, have something they shouldn't have taken. You will tell me where it can be, and then we will see if you're telling the truth.”

“What about-”

“Your collegues are dead, which is a bit unfortunate. You can't always rely on demons.”

“Warlock.” Jack nodded.

“You are correct, thief.”

“I am not a thief!”

“You are a human, and humans are thieves.”

“... I am not getting alive out of here, am I?”

“Depends on your cooperation, but as far as I can see, no.” Jack said looking him still in the eye. “Better to wrap it up. Thieves couldn't get far away.”

“Wait I can-” Jack activated the and felt his mind turning into a paste. Much to his surprise, this time, there was no flashback, but at the same time, it was the first time blood started dripping from his nose.

“Unfortunate.”

Beholder Eye failed to activate.

Jack decided not to comment on the situation, for some reason, he felt that he either was low on mana, or the ability charges were spent. Though he quickly put two and two together when he noticed his mana points dropped way below zero. Sighing dejectedly, Jack complained in his mind how it was unfair that he didn't get any archer skills. Still, he had more than enough for the moment, and a bit of a nosebleed.

Skills

CQC* V

Slings I

Archery II

Small Arms V

Heavy Arms V

Piloting III

Demolition III

Evasion II

Defensive Measures II

First Aid IV

Sprint VIII

Cooking III

Fishing I

Tinkering I

Survival II

Stealth III

Matter Manipulation I

Meditation VII

Mana Sense VII

Mana Manipulation IX

However, much to his annoyance, he didn't gain much points from the fight, or experience. It was a sick joke as he couldn't gain levels, it was a cornerstone of every RPG, and yet, here he was, no experience or levels. Sighing dejectedly, Jack once more decided not to dwell on the matter, and went to...

Jack stopped, thinking about how his map somehow gained new explored areas. And quite detailed to boot. He could see the city of Deighden on it, and most of it was already explored, aside from residential buildings. Everything else, including the church of some sorts, at least according to the tiny notes left on the map, were explored in great detail. It was... odd to say the least.

At the same time, it seemed to be so familiar. As if he knew every single... no, that's not it. That's the aftereffects of the memory absorbtion, clearly it is impossible for Jack to actually... “My head is fucking killing me... literally. My health is dropping, did I overuse this ability or something? Oh wait, better switch back to human form before I get rejection in this one as well. Fuck...”

Jack quickly transformed back into a human, sporting slightly overgrown hair, he was never this glad not being able to grow beard or mustache. His silver hair was getting in the way, and he felt like he was long overdue for a proper bath, despite using water magic to clean himself all this while. Maybe it was a feasible idea to go in the city, after all, it was a major settlement in the kingdom of... how was this area called again? Deighferran? Was Deighden capital of the country? He thought it was.

“Too risky to enter... but... sigh. I can sacrifice one demon corpse, but it will be too suspicious if I were to kill one demon. Hm... Ignore the city and go further? Again, risky. I can assume persona of a villager, but it's too troublesome, and I am way too prideful to be a villager. Hermit? Yes, that might work, but I will need normal clothes... Or I can advertise I am an oddball with no common sense. Yeah, this is going to be way more fun than other routes.” Jack smiled with a final plan organizing in his head. “Will have to forget about using guns for a while, but I can safely use my sword. Maybe I'll go with original plan after all? Sigh. I should probably keep the demon hidden somewhere.” Jack said looking at the hulking and partially rotten mass of a demon. “Wait, rotten? Zombies aren't supposed to rot... or they are supposed to, they're corpses, corpses rot. Maybe that's why I prefer skeletons?”