A few hours after Zaydas arrived, he noticed some differences. This world was more like a typical isekai world, with even two moons instead of one.
There were other things as well, like a large castle in the distance with a nearby civilization. And that wasn't all—there seemed to be an island in the sky farther away and another civilization in the distance.
Minutes later, he returned under Hiraku's surprised gaze, seeing him fly.
But before Hiraku could speak, something happened.
"Woof! Woof!"
The sound of a sharp bark echoed.
'Wolves?'
"Let's go check it out," Zaydas took the lead.
"Sure," Hiraku agreed, following him.
When they got there, they saw two wolves with dark blue fur, light gray details on their ears, and striking red eyes. The two wolves appeared to be injured, given their ragged state.
Zaydas recognized them. They were exactly the wolves he remembered seeing at the very beginning of the manga.
Zaydas let Hiraku take charge.
Hiraku noticed this, and with a hoe in hand, he lowered the wooden tool to make way, gesturing with his hand while crouching, saying, "Come here."
The two wolves obeyed, entering cautiously while seeming fearful as they glanced at Zaydas.
Hiraku brought them to where a large bear was.
"You can eat if you're hungry," Hiraku said generously.
Starving, the two wolves devoured the meat of the massive bear that weighed over a ton.
"Whoa!" Hiraku exclaimed, stunned. "You two ate all that meat!?"
The male wolf seemed to look at him smugly.
However, he stopped looking at Hiraku when the female wolf started whimpering in pain.
"She's going into labor," Zaydas said.
Suddenly, the female wolf began showing signs of discomfort as she was about to give birth to her wolf pups.
"What do you think we should do, Zaydas-san?" Hiraku asked him.
"If possible, let her stay in a sheltered place so she can give birth," Zaydas replied.
"Wolf, not dog?"
"That's your question?" Zaydas pointed out. "And aren't they obviously wolves?"
"To me, they look like dogs..." Hiraku murmured.
"Okay, that's not important right now," Zaydas said.
"Yes, you're right," Hiraku agreed. "About a place... I made a storage room earlier that I haven't used yet. I can let them stay there for now."
***
***
Later, with Hiraku's permission, Zaydas built a simple wooden house for himself.
He even considered making something more complex but gave up. Not only was it troublesome, but it was also unnecessary.
There was also the option of using CP to create a house, but... Spending CP on something like this was unnecessary. Although he wouldn't regret it, he wasn't about to do something like use CP to create an identity in another dimension.
He just wanted to avoid a troublesome process, but... that was all. As a Devil, it wouldn't be difficult to infiltrate and forge a new record for himself.
"Are you sure you don't want to make it bigger?" Hiraku asked, observing Zaydas' simple house, a single room measuring 3 by 4 meters.
Despite thinking it was well-built, even using a clay roof created with magic—or perhaps because of that—Hiraku helped, suggesting that more effort could be put into making something larger.
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"Yes, I'm fine with this for now," Zaydas replied. "If necessary, I can always expand it later."
Hiraku nodded after thinking for a moment. "True."
Inside, the only piece of furniture was an improvised wooden bed with a straw mattress.
'I'll try to bring a mattress from my dimension later...'
While touching the straw mattress, Zaydas couldn't help but decide he didn't want to continue with something like this for long.
***
***
The next morning, Zaydas woke up early.
When he passed by the small shelter where the wolves were staying, he took a look.
"They were born..." he murmured softly.
The male wolf looked at him cautiously.
Seeing this, he chuckled a little without giving it much thought.
"There's no need to be afraid; I won't harm you," Zaydas said, aware that the wolf could understand him.
"Woof (thank you)."
Zaydas simply nodded gently and left shortly after.
Using telekinesis, Zaydas made a tomato float toward him.
Transforming demonic power into water, he washed the tomato before taking a bite. Right after, he began floating slowly, without needing to use his wings.
Throwing the remains of the tomato into his mouth, he began descending toward a stream he had spotted a short distance to the west.
'So, Hiraku-san will build an aqueduct from this stream.'
It was a considerable distance. Thinking about it, a smile curved Zaydas' lips.
Landing by the edge of the lake, he used his power of destruction to create a shield resembling a thin turtle shell. But he didn't stop there. Using Cryokinesis, he added a thick layer of ice around the thin layer of destructive energy.
At first, the ice barely withstood contact with the destructive power, disintegrating in less than a second.
However, after countless attempts and errors, Zaydas managed to create a thick layer of ice, near absolute zero.
The cost, however, was high: it consumed his demonic power at a colossal rate.
Finally, he succeeded in making the ice shield, enclosing the thin layer of destructive energy, last for one minute.
The ice's resistance wasn't an issue; on the contrary, it brought a surprisingly useful side effect.
The longer the destructive power was contained within the ice barrier, the more devastating it became when released.
Upon escaping, the energy annihilated everything around it, leaving craters in the ground and destroying nearby trees.
During one test, Zaydas collided the shield against a stone weighing at least half a ton, precisely when the ice was about to give way.
The result was astounding: the stone was obliterated to the point where it seemed as if it had never existed.
'That result was unexpected,' Zaydas thought as a smile appeared on his face. 'Let's call this: Ice Shield of Annihilation.'
Satisfied with the result, which exceeded his expectations, he continued creating more "Ice Shields of Annihilation." Soon, letting one touch the ground, he began walking eastward, using the shield to push the sand in front of him.
Before the shield reached its limit, Zaydas heard nearby rustling, followed by a powerful roar that echoed through the forest.
Beyond the tall trees, a colossal bear emerged, rising on its hind legs.
With an imposing presence, the creature had dark brown fur, a white band around its neck, and a light brown mane that extended from the top of its head. Around its mouth, the fur was also a lighter shade.
"ROARR!!"
Its glowing red eyes shone with intensity as it displayed a row of sharp teeth, keeping its mouth wide open in a fierce roar.
"How interesting... Bear, do you wish to challenge me?" Zaydas asked, wearing a calm smile.
However, no matter how gentle Zaydas appeared, the moment the giant bear looked into his eyes, all its savagery and aggression faded.
Dropping to all fours, the giant bear became so docile that it didn't even dare to make any sudden movements.
For the bear, that gaze caused immeasurable fear...
Under Zaydas' watchful eyes, the giant bear began retreating, knocking down a few trees in the process.
Once it realized Zaydas had lost interest in it, the giant bear turned and fled!
...
Similar scenes continued to occur with other wild animals, but they fled with just one look.
'These animals' instincts aren't bad...'
Zaydas continued training and working on the aqueduct.
Six hours later...
"Crack!"
"Boom!"
At the sound of an explosion resembling a grenade, the impact created a 3-meter-deep crater.
Zaydas, who had stepped back before being affected by the impact, thought: '2 minutes and 18 seconds is my record time.'
To make things more interesting, he started aiming to break his own record while creating the Ice Shield of Annihilation.
***
***
Hiraku woke up and saw that the wolf pups had been born.
He thought Zaydas was still asleep and didn't wake him while tending to his crops.
However, after two hours had passed and Zaydas still hadn't shown up, Hiraku began to worry.
'He's probably just oversleeping,' he thought.
"Oh, you're awake."
Suddenly, Zaydas' voice came from outside the walls made of tree trunks—or, more precisely, from the sky.
When Hiraku saw him, he spoke enviously upon seeing him fly: "Good morning, Zaydas-san."
"Mm, good morning," Zaydas said. "By the way, I found a stream nearby and started making a water route in this direction."
"Really?" Hiraku was obviously pleased. Rolling up his sleeves, he said, "I'll help!"
***
***
12 days later...
The wolf pups had grown to the point where they no longer needed to be nursed.
In these few days, Zaydas had been training while working on the aqueduct.
While he focused on creating the route, Hiraku took charge of adjusting the terrain to improve water flow.
Zaydas didn't mind allowing the water to run as he worked, but Hiraku thought it was better to block the water entry until the aqueduct was complete.
"We're almost there," Zaydas said.
In just a few days, he managed to expand the creation of the Ice Shield of Annihilation to 35 cm in length and 25 cm in width, making it last 5 minutes before the power of destruction shattered the ice and everything around it.
Precisely because of this, Hiraku had to stay at the back, working on improving the aqueduct; otherwise, he would be affected.
A few seconds later, Zaydas, who had created a new shield, noticed rustling in the bushes, and suddenly a hopping rabbit appeared.
Looking at the rabbit with disproportionately large teeth, Zaydas formed a shard of ice in the air with his free hand and hurled it toward the white rabbit.
"Bang!"
With a simple shot, even though the shard of ice wasn't large, it pierced the rabbit's chest, causing instant death.
The worst part, perhaps, was the rabbit beginning to transform into a block of ice.
Creating a magic circle with his hand, Zaydas opened his personal dimensional space. He quickly placed the rabbit inside, closing the space afterward.
"That impresses me no matter how many times I see it," Hiraku commented.
Turning to him, Zaydas said, "Your gifts aren't bad either. They're quite useful, especially for survival."
"Yes, thanks to them, I've been able to survive for so long," Hiraku agreed.
Although he had no magical power, he made up for it with the special abilities he possessed: [All-Purpose Farming Tool] and [Healthy Body].
Thanks to those two, what should have taken months was being completed in days.
Of course, if Zaydas weren't simply using this as part of his training, it would've been even faster.
Speaking of Hiraku's special abilities, Zaydas observed the process to replicate them but noticed something. As he gained understanding and his friendship with Hiraku grew, the chance to replicate also increased. Before, it was less than a 50% chance to replicate, but now it had risen to nearly 70%.
However, the cost to replicate was at least 3,500 CP for the Healthy Body and 10,000 for the All-Purpose Farming Tool. Because of this, he didn't want to attempt replicating them for now.
***
***
The aqueduct was completed.
After a long 13 days of work, it was done.
Thanks to this, both his control over Cryokinesis improved and strengthened, and his mastery of the Power of Destruction became more natural.
His biggest problem before when using the Power of Destruction was his lack of control. Something so destructive is difficult to manage and shape.
It was practically two birds with one stone.
"Hey, Hiraku-san," Zaydas said as he turned to him, "Now that this is done, I'll be leaving for a while."
"I understand," Hiraku said, then asked, "But you will come back, right?"
After spending several days together, Hiraku had become somewhat reliant on Zaydas as a friend. Having someone to help him and talk to was better than living alone in this forest...
Well, not completely alone—he still had the wolves, but it wasn't the same, you know?
"I'll return, but I'll be gone for at least 15 days, at most a month," Zaydas replied.
"I understand." Hiraku was a simple guy and adapted quickly. It's no wonder he had managed to live alone in this forest for so long.