Planned Public Release: Feb. 27th, 2019 - 5:00 pm EST
I was floating through the Seve-Lights Quasar when I noticed it. There was a transmission of information floating in free space, rocketing off towards one the danger zones we Fae call the 'Thirteens'.
There were only two of us who dared go to the Thirteens, Nox and Samart. Nox was stuck on the Leveling World, so that meant this notice was going to Samart…
A sly look must have crossed my face, because the small string of souls behind me started to shudder. The Tempered were always tough bastards; I was a bit amazed they even had consciousness right now, in transit between worlds.
I moved quick and grabbed the Transmission. Its contents came to me in broken pieces.
“Tempered. Gransus. Demon. Betrayal?”
I shuddered. The message came from one of Samart’s favorite countries on the Leveling World and they spoke of another Tempered running free. Wasn’t Nox supposed to be watching things?
“Tch,” I clicked my tongue. I wanted to collect at least another couple souls before I made a trip back, but if one of The Tempered was running free, it meant Nox was slacking off again. That asshole…
-
The trip back didn’t take too long. I wasn’t very far, after all. I’m a bit glad I fucked with Samart’s transmission. If him and Nox started fighting over this problem then who knows what would happen. Those two could probably destroy the fucking universe itself, with their strength.
I looked back at my delicious little souls. There was another Tempered on the Leveling World waiting, too.
I wished I could just grind levels properly, but all the Fae knew the consequences, now. After Zola had to be put down, we realized the dangers in indiscriminate leveling. It was best to curate the souls you’d draw in, to pick only a few high leveled ones, to eat only The Tempered. With only a few souls, their egos wouldn’t damage your mind as much. It was best to be selective and only pick Tempered that matched your personality or Affinity, too.
Of course, rather than give the ones that didn’t match me to the others, I usually just shattered their souls completely. It wasn’t easy, but it was better than letting Samart or Nox get further ahead. To shatter a soul completely took a lot of effort and it had to be done
If I was being honest, I’d talk about how much Nox and Samart scared the shit out of me. Nox had at least seven, FUCKING SEVEN, Deity Ranked skills.
He often handed them out to a few of The Tempered he picked to ripen their souls before collecting. Perhaps that was what was happening on the Shield World right now, too. It would suck if I came back early due to a false alarm…
But I didn’t necessarily mind fucking around for a bit. Roving the universe for eternity just to get stronger kind of sucked, anyways. I guess I was the weakest of the Fae for a reason, huh? I'd rather play with my food than eat it~
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When I reached the Leveling World I couldn’t find hide nor hair of Nox. His aura was extremely small too, as if he used up a bunch of energy. That meant he was trying to ripen up a soul to eat. I couldn’t hide my grin. If I could poach his kill and get to the other side of the universe before he recovered…
He’d probably hunt me down to kill me, but I could always just suicide and enter the reincarnation cycle again. Now that I’m a Fae I’d always keep my memories, anyhow. At least, as long as I didn’t die on the Leveling World…
-
It didn’t take long to find the girl. I followed her along, just watching from a distance. She proved to be entertaining and, for a moment, I wondered if Nox really planned on eating her. Why did he make her body to look identical to Zola? Was he planning on keeping her? Was he going to break The Pact?
I couldn’t let that happen. That girl needed to disappear or Nox and Samart would start fighting again, for sure…
But I had time. I always liked to play with my food, after all.
With a wave of my hand I started collecting monsters to use, creatures to play with. The girl couldn’t sense my Fae energy despite being one of us… She was so young, so inexperienced. She looked so delicious.
I decided to impersonate Samart for a bit. I morphed myself into his visage and descended in Barbory.
The pope even greeted me with praise and a small collection of strong souls that his people collected over the years. What they considered ‘strong’ were nothing but peanuts to me. Hardly a meal worth eating. I couldn’t risk such small fry entering me. The more egos I ate the more they’d affect me, after all. The little humans were so cute. It was a shame they were all so weak. Without the reincarnation cycle, old souls couldn’t be reborn here. Only new souls were born, and they all started at level 1.
But that didn’t matter.
Using Barbory’s creatures, I crafted some fun things. I created powerful eel monsters and sent them into The Pass. I created bugs, mantises, and I even altered some fun dinosaur-lions. The last ones were a true masterpiece of mine. The locals of Barbory called them Tsavo, or some crap. I changed their mana into Fae energy and I increased their overall speed. I wanted that girl to learn to sense Fae Energy. Maybe she’d sense me, then, too. I’d love for her to try and fight me. That could alleviate some boredom. My old toys always broke too easily...
I just wanted to watch that girl struggle a bit, but she put on such a good show with every wave. The drama of it all drew me in. My mouth started to water just thinking of her flavor. The more beings she killed, the more levels she got, the better she’d taste. All of those souls wrapped up into one package, and all their egos refined by her into one entity… I shuddered at the thought. It would be exquisite.
I couldn’t help myself much longer. I grabbed one of the souls I brought with me and threw it in my mouth. It screamed for mercy as it popped like a cherry.
“Aaaaah,” I couldn’t help but letting my voice leak. I felt my level rising again. Soon I’d reach 1200. When I did I could probably make a new Deity Rank Skill. It’d be dangerous to do it for me, since I wasn’t a freak like Nox or Samart, but with my current two Deity Skills I was already pretty strong. If I added a third then I could probably overtake Jay in rank.
If I ate that girl, Calliope, I’d definitely reach the 1200. I almost didn’t want to wait for her to reach the country of Barbory, but the best flavors were always despair and doom. If I ate her now, when she was only on the cusp, on the edge of the fall, it wouldn’t be worth it.
The best seasoning was tragedy. She seemed to care about her little friends an awful lot. Perhaps the best way to break her would be to eat them first…
I could feel myself smiling again. I grabbed another snack. The numbers on my status continued to go up with each one I ate.
[1172]
[1173]
[1174]
[1175]
…