The imps returned to the boulder area, and Johan had no clear idea what to do with them.

They were not really capable of rattling him out, but could not give him any information either.

They were also too weak and unskilled for him to gain something from their deaths.

In the end, Johan just commanded them to drag the beast’s corpse back, and nothing else. When he tried to order them to disassemble it, they jumped at it, trying to eat it whole.

“Don’t tell me, they just eat it and leave the stronger bones.” Johan said while facepalming.

After beating them away, Johan had to do the job himself in order to preserve the hide, and repeated the process of getting his fashion up to season.

“I really need a way to refine better equipment. I cannot afford to take so much time every five levels, not if i want to make a power base before the demon king rises again.”

Beggars, choosers and whatever, Johan finished upgrading his gear and went on his way. The three imps remained, except for one.

“Congratulations.” Johan said to his new companion, outfitted with the gear he just discarded. “From now own you are Grubber.”

“Grubber!!!” the imp said cheerily, grunting and waving a bone. Johan had deemed it too dumb to use a lance.

Johan had also tied a rope to Grubber’s waist. It took him forever to braid the leather, to make one rope long enough to be useful, around ten meters long. But hopefully, it would prevent Grubber from rushing into death for no reason.

After all, Johan had taken him in order to throw him to his death, when he finally found a reason.

More than once, the rope proved its value by helping Johan drag Grubber back, stopping him from running into the jaws of a pack of monsters outside their perception.

-Demonplant level 11.

-Demonplant level 10.

-Demonplant level 19.

-Shadowbeast level 8.

-Shadowbeast level 12.

They had not approached them due to the difference in numbers, but they had obviously entered a more lively part of the underworld. Small streaks of black could be seen across the pale floor. Thin lines like thread.

-Demonplant level 13.

“At last, one of them is alone.” Johan said, and dragged Grubber on that direction.

They found several huge boulders, twice their height, and atop them yet another one-imp-tall boulder. The upper boulder was wide, and on it sat a plant.

Or at least his eye described it as a plant.

It was a collection of thick stalks wide as his own torso, but instead of being solid rods, they were structures filled with holes, like a bee comb. The leaves were wide and thick, but also had plenty of holes along its ridges.

Yellow stalks, blue leaves. Johan focused his golden eye and saw very small motes of magic Flowing away from the plant. On the other side more magical motes went in, apparently the plant filtered ambient magic.

“Grubber, my friend, climb up there and bring me some of those leaves.”

Grubber didn’t answer until Johan raised his fist, then hurriedly climbed the boulders. He took several leaves and threw them back at Johan, they drifted in the air and landed mostly on his general direction.

Johan picked them up and tried to feel their magic, but they were designed for absorption, not for actually doing anything with that magic.

But it was enough, Johan reached level thirteen.

-Absorption 1.

*Absorbs ambient mana.

If compression absorbed the magic in an area, absorption created a small circular flow to move the magic around, and then absorbed it.

The card didn’t wrap the magic in fulmin, so it could be snatched by an enemy, but pairing it with Compression should decrease the issue in half. Giving him enough time to use the paired cards for something else.

“But my limit right now are two cards, i need more two-card synergies for more than melee.”

Up there, Grubber happily chomped on one stalk. They appeared to be relatively soft.

“Hey Grubber! Throw me one of the smaller stalks!”

Grubber didn't react until Johan yanked the cord with enough strength to almost drag him down. Reluctantly, the lesser imp ripped away a smaller stalk and let is slide across the boulders’ side.

The stalk was as wide as Johan’s own arm, it looked spongy, but it had a certain solidity. It was soft to the touch until enough pressure was applied, then it broke with a crunch.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Johan examined it with the golden eye. Thin strands of magic flowed downwards, taking the collected ambient mana and transporting them to the roots, presumably to process them into whatever the plant required.

Then Johan realized his arm felt a little cold, the stalk had been releasing dust whenever it was crushed, and the areas of his skin where it touched became numb.

Looking up to the boulder, Johan realized Grubber had been paralyzed and laid flat next to the plant.

But he looked still quite alive, so Johan let him be.

Back to the stalk, Johan used Absorb and Compress and it dried up, crumbling into dust as all the magic inside was stolen.

Johan took the ball of fulmin, big enough to fit in his palm and, upon closer examination, found nothing special about it. He picked up some of the dust and licked it, his tongue felt numb, but the feeling passed immediately.

“I guess the dust is a paralyzing agent, and the magic is supposed to enhance it. But its too weak to combine both into a higher tier poison.”

“Too bad, i cannot use this as a material. What do i do with you?” He said looking at the fulmin ball.

It gave a feeling of moisture and plant matter, but on his new body, Johan had no affinity for water of plants.

Water was, of course, an aspect of magic worth studying, if Johan was to extract the secrets of the demon blood. But water of such slow level, was pretty much the same as any regular ambient water, just ambient magic.

Right now, the main source of blood power laid inside his own blood, and nurturing his bloodline, would be the first step on that direction.

“Whatever, i can simply make another card as placeholder for a level.”

Johan studied the magic until he got the feeling of moisture. Then reached level fourteen.

-Water 1.

*Produces water.

Activating the card took more time and magic than producing a flame, due to his lack of affinity. Johan transformed his fulmin into a water ball cupped between his hands. Then drank.

“Tasty.”

It felt good, as a demon he could survive out of magic and sparse food. But having a comfort drink felt quite... refreshing.

Johan conjured another water ball, and another, using his fulmin to restore them faster. A total waste, but he felt like cleaning himself.

After a while, he finished, using his old rags to wipe his body. He was ready to continue.

“Grubber, of course.” Johan said to himself, almost forgetting about his ally.

Johan pulled the rope until the other imp fell to the ground, his body already getting too rigid. At that rate it would eventually die.

Putting his hand on the imp’s chest, Johan could feel the invading magic working more clearly. Like tendrils sneaking their way inside the body.

They were not exactly invading, they were not needles burrowing in, they were mostly navigating the natural functions of the body. Stretching themselves inside the areas where the fulmin was weaker.

It was closer to water flowing inside the cracks of a shoddy building.

“Now, this is something worth getting a mind card for.

Using Grubber’s contaminated body as a template, Johan turned his sight into his own body, and could perceive those same areas where his constitution was weaker. The points from where it could be attacked.

Taking his fulmin, he made it flow inside those areas. Like a flush of water cleaning a dirty pipeline, the fulmin pushed forward.

It was not a transformation of his own body, Johan simply learned where to clean if he ever was in need of it. More like learning how to stretch his muscles for maximum relaxation.

He gained two levels, reaching level sixteen.

-Inner Cleansing 1.

*Cycle fulmin to clean the body.

The card went into his mind deck. Those were the cards he could use as background skills. Always available, but unable to be combined with heart cards.

Not under regular circumstances.

And Grubber was dead. Johan gave him a salute and stripped him of his gear.

“Goodbye Gruber, you will be missed.”

There was still another card slot available, but Johan decide to reserve it. He still had to develop a ranged attack.

Compression and Combustion could do in short distance, but the combination lacked explosive power.

Ideally, Absorption and Compression could create enough pressure for Combustion to make an explosion, but the problem was his card limitation.

A card crafter could combine an extra card every thirty levels or so, maybe some geniuses with lots of experience could go beyond that limit, but combining a tenth of his magic on the fly was already a pretty big percentage.

“Its only fourteen levels, but i don’t feel comfortable, even if the eye gives me ranged advantage.”

Logically speaking, there was no rush, but growth would be better by challenging stronger foes. And fireballs were his ticket for that path.

Johan went back to his journey, now saddled with the extra weight of Gruber’s gear. But he could afford it, the water and meat available to him made travelling a better prospect. Johan advanced swinging his spear, stabbing the air trying to make his fulmin shoot from the tip.

Several days later. The landscape changed again. small red pebbles could be seen here and there, giving extra color to the ground. And the ever present pale trees were less abundant.

“Maybe if the world becomes more real, there is less space for reflections?”

A line on the dust made him stop. It was wide like his torso, and long. it began somewhere else, reached his current spot and moved away. A snake trail.

“Everything around here has an imp-sized belly, we truly are bottom feeder.”

Johan made sure to eat and drink on small portions, not only to stay alert, but also to keep himself at top shape. He had no real need for sleep, and it was easy to dismiss tiredness. He was ready.

-Lesser Imp level 13.

-Shadowbeast level 16.

Finally, Johan had detected several monsters over the previous hours, but they were either too numerous to risk himself, or too weak to bother. A lone imp and a single monster was the perfect combination.

Johan rushed to the area both entities were moving towards, and reached it before they arrived. He activated Absorption and Compression, and left the resulting ball on the ground, on a small hole he dug out, then retreated.

Not long after the first of them entered his field of vision. A lesser imp with his upper torso covered in thick slime, his arms stuck to his chest. He ran almost losing his balance, and Rushed towards Johan when they saw each other.

Behind the imp there came a snake, it was relatively short, considering it was thick enough to swallow an imp. Instead, it had a big round belly in the middle, the belly was easily two imps thick while the neck and tail were two imps long each. its thick body propelling it at decent speed despite its stout appearance.

Johan threw a bone lance at it to grab its attention. The spear bouncing off the hide leaving only a dent.

It was not as if the beast was very tough, but a bone spear had no concentrated weight on the tip. Another spear landed on its head, scratching its eye, and this time it enraged it enough to switch directions, walking directly over the compressed mana ball.

“Fool! You activated my trap card!!!”

Johan threw a Combustion card at the sphere on the ground, and they exploded into a burst of fire that carved out a chunk of the snake’s side. It collapsed, still alive, but slowly dying.

The imp gasped with wide eyes, staring as Johan stabbed the snake through the eye.

Johan used a bone spear to clean most of the slime off the imp’s body, then rolled him on the ground to clog the leftover slime with dirt. It formed small dirt balls, which were scrubbed away by the imp himself.

“Congratulations my friend, from now on your name is Grubber. Here, i have some gifts for you”