Crossing the arch way the two were suddenly hit with a heavy smelly and extremely hot wind. Xero instantly felt the sweltering heat and began to sweat.
“So hot.” He muttered and removed the tie that was part of the uniform before unbuttoning the robe and removing the top vest and storing them all. Then he withdrew a pair of travel shoes and replaced the indoor shoes he had been wearing that was for school use. Finally he rolled up his pants to his knee make shorts. “That's a bit better.” He muttered and looked at the Imp who was completely unfazed. Looking at the Imp now it was no longer skinny and the skin was now less wrinkled as it tightened around its newly formed muscles. The wings on its back were starting to become visible from the front, its face was still the same but now it was starting to look proportionate to the body that was growing. “Lets figure out your current level of strength first. Follow me.” Xero said.
He began to walk and the Imp followed, the ground was rocky and cracked under his feet. After going a bit around away from the portal he stopped at a really rocky area.
“This is good…” He muttered and picked up a stone and weighed it. After he picked up rocks that were about the same sizes as the Imp’s core and weighed half a kilo he turned to it and told it to hold it. The imp held it in one hand and sniffed it confused. He then received another and another and after ten rocks he told the imp to drop them and got a big rock that weighed the same as the bunch of rocks. He began to stack the small rocks and after a while the imp simply dropped it all.
“So 9 kilo it can hold. The weights he got totalled 12 throughout its limbs so now he needs at least 5 kilos in each just like the other students.” Xero muttered. “I guess this is the best place to train magic as well, I’ll leave physical training for later in the evening so let's work on that.” He said.
Xero took ten paces back and then used his mind to turn the Imp towards a big boulder. “When I charge your magic throwing it forward.” He instructed and then pulled the magic sword out and pointed at the Imp. His mana flowed out and struck the Imp and found the magical formula for the Imp Fire.
Watching the Formula it began to flow and move through the body and towards the arms but it suddenly hit several dozen obstructions and instantly the spell activated causing the Imp’s body to instantly combust and blow up with a resounding Bang!
The flames rose a bit and a small scar was left, the red pearl turned into light and Xero felt a pull on his mana from the Familiar seal.
He looked around and found a large boulder and sat down cross legged and closed his eyes and began to take deep breaths. In from the nose out through the mouth, this was meditation, although genius and talented people can easily pull mana through their skin, those with less talent have to supplement this with breathing techniques. Breathing techniques allow the body to breath in the mana in the air and expel the excess while the body absorbs some with each breath. Its deep slow breaths which is which is why it's less effective but there is a plus side. The mana purifies easier because it passes through the lungs several times as it's pulled and pushed out and by the time it's absorbed the mana that underwent this process is a bit purer.
Also the mana type depends on the surroundings. Earth mana is ever present but there are areas like this one that a dense fire mana exists due to the presence of lava flow and volcanoes. The richer the mana the easier it is to absorb it due to the abundant mana. Unlike outside Xero only took half an hour of meditation to completely restore his mana.
“These training areas are another thing altogether.” he muttered and looked at his familiar seal and called it out.
The red pearl came out and as it stopped in the air a powerful gust of wind came and began to circle the red pearl.
Ash in the air and in the ground began to rise and clump around the pearl as it rapidly formed the body of the Imp but after it was formed the dust kept gathering and only after several moments did it stop. When Xero looked he noticed several features that were different. First was that it grew a few centimeters, the round head now started to become a bit oval, the horns that came out from the sides was now seemed to be moving towards the forehead. Another change was that the grey skin as a slightly darker shade and that his four fingered hand was no longer paw like and it stretched a bit forming two digit fingers. The feet that were small and seemed weak also became bigger and stronger.
“It’s overall appearance seemed to have undergone a change.” Xero marveled and looked behind it but the wing still seemed the same and was still small but the shape was now perfect and it could fold and flap it freely.
“Is this what Professor Grunt said about amazing growth?” He muttered. “Hold this stone!” He instantly said and grabbed the big rock he gave it before and put the same weights as before but it still trembled but it could hold it now. Adding two more small rocks and it dropped it.
“So it improved by 1 kilo but it seems its improvement isn’t just something random. It must have noticed all the faults on it’s body after running and changed it since he had the energy.” Xero thought.
Thinking a bit and remembering how the Ash it gathered even after it had rebuilt itself acted it had a clear connection.
“Maybe when it rebuilds itself, as long as it has abundant material and energy it will improve more than it would otherwise.” He muttered and stepped back after aiming it at the boulder.
Pointing his sword again at the Imp he loaded the mana. The flow began to pass through the body and soon several spots were hit but several that existed before were gone but after a bit more new ones appeared and it once more exploded.
“So it improved its mana channels with each death as well.” He thought and looked at the seal and fed the seal mana until it rejected it and summoned the imp again and once more the storm of ash and dust happened forming the Ash Golem once more. There was small changes this time physically and when he checked the mana channel he saw it cleared a few more. Three more deaths and he found that it could not do much else.
“Let's go hunt.” he said.
Saying this the Imp seemed to perk up. Facing the massive erupting volcano in the far distance they begin to walk once Xero recharged his mana.
After walking a bit he feels the mana grow denser signalling he had entered a new layer. The closer to the center the better the quality and quantity of mana.
This entire space was built by magical architects. Extremely powerful mages with almost godly familiars that worked together with Space type familiar that wholly focused on space magic. They formed their own pocket dimensions and then set up the worlds as they are now. The first layer is thin and has a slightly higher quantity of mana. There is about 29 kilometers between the ‘wall’ of the world and the second layer that comprises this layer. Its empty and made for isolated training. The portals appear here and there isn’t 1 portal. The portal outside is 1 but there are hundreds along the inside and the old portal master is the one that decides which will open. These portals are only 2 kilometer from the second layer since it would be a hassle for the older students to walk 29 kilometers even if it was training.
The second layer possesses weak creatures ranking 1 or 2. Monster ranking goes from 1-100. It’s commonly called monster levels. An Imp recently born is level 1 just like Ash but something like Univa’s Blue Winged Salamander is at least a Level 3 or 4 since it’s still young.
After entering the two walked around and soon reached a lava river. It was dangerous to approach it because there were monsters within the flowing lava but after hiding and looking Xero’s face lit up.
“Perfect, Magma slugs, this is a level 1 earth and fire monster. This is a perfect thing to try and see his fire resistance or maybe train it.” He said. Looking around he spotted a lone Slug and moved closer.
“Ash, go hunt the monster that is around the area I throw this rock.” Xero said and tossed the rock near the lone magma slug. Ash’s ear twitch and it jumps up and around the boulder and runs to the area the rock fell and quickly sniffed the air as he neared and jumped over the magma slug that had spit out a ball of flaming mucus.
“His sense of smell is quite good but I guess that mucus is smelly.” Xero muttered and indeed it stank since he could smell it from 15 meters away.
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Xero watched Ash jump but it seemed its jumping strength grew extremely compared to before and it almost jumped into the river of lava.
It stopped just at the bank and feeling the heat it hopped back and turned and sniffed the air.
“It’s jumping power is abnormal, it can probably be counted as level 2 strength in jumping from how strong it is already.” Xero muttered.
Ash locked on the smell of the slug and jumped higher this time and this time it seemed to aim well and landed right on the shell of the slug. Smoke rose up and he shouted but it’s weight tipped over the slug making turn sideways and he wildly attacked hitting several hits on the shell and on connected to the soft flesh. The lava like blood flowed out and the Magma slug screeched but so did Ash who pulled his arms out which was burned down what happened next amazed and disgusted Xero.
Ash bit into his own arm and ate the burnt arm section halfway to his elbow. After a moment a wind began to blow and the ash on the ground started to flow and slowly gather on the wound that was releasing a black liquid.
Ash jumped off the burning hot shell and his feet gave way in pain but like his arm his feet healed as more ash filled it. The slug on the other hand curled up and hid inside the shell to stop its bleeding.
After a while Ash healed and he started to move about on all fours and as soon as he touched a rock that was a bit bigger then the rock that Xero used to test his strength he stood and grabbed it and lifted it and walked back to the tipped over shell. Xero narrowed his eyes as he watched and it widened in shock when he saw Ash suddenly lift it and force the rock down impacting the shell. A screech from inside showed the Slug was in pain. He kept repeating the process and slowly cracks began to form and eventually the shell finally cracked and the slug fell out writhing around.
Ash then took the rock and smashed it over the body of the slug and let it go and attacked the flesh that was wriggling at both ends trapped under the rock. His claws weren’t sharp but he still ripped the corners both ends and one side was the head causing the slug to die after having its head removed.
With the body dead the rest slumped down. Ash then grabbed the stone and tossed it away and he bent over and bit into the corpse of the Magma Slug. Xero’s lips twitched as he saw the fangs and mouth of the Ash Golem burn and his body burned but he still ate it and after eating the body he turned to the shell and began eating that as well not leaving a single bit from the main shell.
Ash didn’t stop flowing and healing his wounds but it soon stopped as Ash just stood there. After a long moment he saw him lift his hand forward and suddenly his body became red and blew up.
“What!” The ash body burst and the red pearl core returned to the seal but it caused the seal to heat up. The heat slowly subsides and it began to suck in mana before stopping and the seal flashed as the pearl comes out.
Like the previous times there was a strong wind pulling in ash but it also drew in its own blasted body and rapidly built its body once more and this time the body seemed darker.
“What the hell?” Xero was confused by the action of the Imp but this time he just turned towards Xero who saw that the face became more oval and the eyes formed into a human eye format with the deeper eye socket making the eye brow but lacking the hair. The big nose shrank a bit and began forming a triangle shape as if it was building a human face. The mouth was still wide and now filled with fangs that were darker than the skin and had a faint luster to it. The ears were now not completely straight outwards and were now angling up but the eyes were still the same pure white eyes.
“Is it me or is he becoming more human?” Xero thought but as he looked at the body he noticed that the hand still had four fingers and no thumb but the claws were a bit sharper and black like the teeth and seem to shine. “Is it developing obsidian fangs and claws to handle the fire creatures?” Although he was curious about the new capabilities and strange way of acting that it had shown by somehow activating his still incapable fire magic to self destruct.
Suddenly Ash sniffed and looked at another Magma Slug that was approaching, looking around Xero saw more than five of them and frowned.
“Let's go and find a safer area.” he said and Ash looked his way but then back at the magma slugs before following. Searching they found another and he let Ash fight once more.
This time around after throwing the stone Ash went running and after picking up the scent he stopped and waited for the attack and dodged after jumping to the left he waiting and the scent of the mucus came once more and this time he jumped up higher and smashed into the shell tipping it over and unlike before he seemed to have learned and attacked directly under the soft flesh of the slug.
His hand burned but it still held a piece of flesh that he ate there and then he jumped off and found a large rock to crack it open. The efficiency was far greater than before. Like before it cut at both sides once it trapped the slug and quickly ate it again. The body burned from the inside again and it made Xero wonder what kind of monster this thing was. Just then it suddenly jumped and landed on another round rock and kicked it over and instantly a screeching came. The slug appeared spitting out randomly but with only the head exposed Ash swung at the underside as if it wasn’t hiding and it the head directly killed it allowing him to drag it out and eating it and the shell followed.
“Since when…” Xero was in shock, he didn’t even notice the hidden ones. “Did his sense of smell improve that greatly?” he wondered.
It was no wonder he thought that but it was wrong, although the sense of smell improved it was actually because of a new sense or actually the merging of two. Because of the huge amount of energy he previously possessed he was able to greatly improve his body. Ash had made his body stronger and more stable and because he died by magical explosion he always kept feeling the fault zones that caused the magical formula to fail and improved them. To a normal monster this would be the same but the fact that he is blind and he felt mana a bit more keenly he discovered mana clouded his eye. When he ate the first Magma Slug he had eaten a magical being because of this he had absorbed the mana of the slug and activated the spell Xero was using on his own allowing he to grasp some understanding of the mana. Because of this when he repaired his body afterwards not only did he make it a bit more fire resistant he was finally able to affect the magic blotting its eyes by having his eyes slightly ‘see’ the mana. Not only that but his ears and nose were affected and were improved by the mana allowing his senses to become sharper.
If any other person was to learn of this kind of growth there would be unending jealousy because once the Familiar becomes stronger than the master it will start to affect their strength and if they train rigorously enough they could match the physical and magical prowess. One of the reasons that Ash was evolving as he is was because he never saw any creature before but after Grunt told Xero to show memories of how to walk and run he saw how humans and elves and other humanoids looked like affecting his evolution and making him slowly compress his looks towards a human's shape completely unlike a demon would.
“Er, since he is getting good at hunting them it might be a good idea to have him hunt something different.” He said and nodded and called Ash back and ran off to a different area.
Several hours later he appeared from the portal back at the school covered in a layer of charred dust and let out a cough. The old man looked back, “Did you go in far?” He asked.
“Just one layer in, I wanted to see my familiars fighting instincts.” he said and scratched his head which caused some of the dust to fall off.
“Oh, and how was it?” He asked.
“Erm… he grew… fast I think.” Xero said and summoned the Imp. He liked like he did several hours ago but his horns seemed to possess a strange black luster. The hands had developed a nail on the side that would probably make a thumb, the nails also seem to be retractable now. The muscles were a bit denser and the huge nose had formed a proper bridge between the eyes but it was still like a swollen potato. His previous slightly hunched form now stood a bit straighter and his wings were a bit smaller than the cherub but because his weight increased due to his denser muscles he can’t fly all the same.
“That is quite good growth, his aura seems sharper and he seems to be growing smarter.” The old man said and nodded approvingly.
“Thank you for the compliment sir. I need to head in and wash up now, I thank you for the help.” Xero said and with a bow he ran off with the Imp on his heel before it was recalled into the seal.
The old man looked at the boy and when he was gone a large man appeared.
“So what did you think of that imp old man?” A rough voice came from him.
“Grunt, call me properly or I will teach you what pain and fear is once more.” the old man said emotionlessly.
“Alright Archmagus Valmor. Still the imp, it had impressive growth. In several hours hunting it physique is totally different.” Grunt said.
“Yes, Florense told me the core is 12 cm in diameter. This is on par with a lower noble devil. If his growth wasn’t explosive like this then it would be an utter failure of a demon.” The old man said. “Also the magical aura of that beast grew quick strongly, it seems hunting truly is a demons favorite sport, the magical energy it can get from the corpse of its fallen foe is nothing compared to eating trash from a cafeterias waste bin.” he said.
“He needs food none the less, give or take a two weeks time he will be able to glide, by then his strength will probably match up to Xero’s. I kind of fear what that thing can become dying so many more times just to rebuild its body.” Grunt commented.
“Demons feel no pain on death. We feel exhilaration as our pent up power is released into our soul for us to build our body.” a deep menacing voice said.
A large 30 cm ruby appeared above the old man and it released a blast of flames and became a large red demon and looked down at the bear man.
“That little imp, if the boy isn’t stupid he will notice it's an abnormality, its form is slowly making it turn human, it never witnessed hell because its eyes were blinded. It’s a demon that will develop human mentality.” he said and grinned before laughing as his body burned down slowly. “A true monster is born I wonder which of those two is that monster.” His voice said fading and enter the body of the old man. The robe fell off and showed a massive tattoo on the old man's arm going from the hand all the way down to his back.
“Demon familiar are such a mystery.” the old man said and sighed before he cupped his hands and the tattoos began to glow before they dulled except for the blood red seal on his hand that was the original familiar seal.