I squinted a bit as the sun blazed in the sky, I didn't really like warm weather at all.
Maybe it was because I spent most of my time indoors with the AC on full blast, or maybe because where I lived in my past life was already very cold to begin with.
I still can't seem to remember anything despite so many familiar feelings.
Char was trekking alongside me, seemingly immune to the heat since he was a skeleton. Unless it was hot enough to melt bones than he'd probably be fine in any weather.
We had left the interior paved roads of the castle, now heading towards to the main gates of the castle. I was idly stabbing and slashing with the knife, though it felt like I was being an idiot since I had no idea what I was doing. Let a man dream alright!?
If Char was judging me from my erratic, and probably downright silly, movements then he wasn't showing it. To be honest, he could probably voice his opinion at any moment since he could now speak.
I glanced at him,
"Char, if you want to say something you can just say it. You don't have to stay quiet"
At that moment, Char's movements stuttered for a moment. I wasn't really sure what was going on, since he was just standing and not moving forwards anymore so I just stopped and waited for him to recover.
"...Master....look...stupid"
I sighed
"Yeah, I thought so."
The only experience I had with knives was in the kitchen when I made my own food. Restaurants were REALLY expensive and I didn't feel like dropping a hundred dollars on a meal so I decided to learn how to make my own food during high school. I actually became quite proficient so I continued to cook all the way up to university.
Wait...I think I'm remembering more.
We were now on the dirt road that led to my castle, which was surrounded by fields of grass and bushes. There was a stream of rushing water under a wooden bridge right in front of me. There were a multitude of unknown birds that were flying in the sky, with sounds of cicadas ringing through the lush forests. If this wasn't identical to a Japanese Isekai story then I don't know what is, this was the definition of every single Isekai story.
Though, this made it much easier for me to survive. Looking at the environment, I could tell it was clearly lively and fine which meant there was definitely food. As I got closer and closer to the bridge, I suddenly thought of something strange.
Why am I only hungry? Shouldn't I get thirsty as well?"
A normal living creature could stand many days without food without a problem, but if they didn't have water they would die within the first few days since your body needs liquids to keep on moving forwards and working. It didn't make any sense that I was completely fine, though it could have something to do with me not being a human anymore.
Reaching the edge of the stream, I decided to not take any risks and take a drink from the stream. I cupped some water in my hands and drank the water, the refreshing taste rolling off my tongue. There had to be some reason that flowing water tasted better right?
"....fish...."
I turned around to see Char pointing at the center parts of the stream, where there were indeed many fish whose scales were flashing from the sun beating down on the area. My water started- I mean, my mouth started watering.
"Char, you can use electric magic right?"
"Yes."
"Can you, shock the stream?"
Char nodded before pointing his staff at the stream, the end of it glowing an electric purple
[Arc]
BZZZZZZZ
An extremely large spark of electricity shot out from his staff and, as it's name suggested, arced across the large area of the stream. Nothing happened for moment, then the fish started to float belly up.
"WHOA!"
I yelled out because, though there were some small fish, somehow they were mixed together with extremely large species.
Some of them had extremely terrifying names, whilst other's sounded more familiar to me.
I'm almost scared to use analyze...
One of them was around the same length as me, making me a bit scared of what it would do if it wasn't stunned by Char's electricity.
[Analyze]
STATUS Level: 10
Species: Goblin Shark (Stunned) Rank: C
Description
An aquatic creature that dwells at the bottom of lakes and oceans, but travel through streams during the summer. They are notoriously hard to find and kill, and are generally served as a delicacy.
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Health [20/30]
[/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////]
MP [0/0]
[/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////]
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Strength: 7 Vitality:4 Agility:8 Sense:6 Intelligence:5
STATUS Level: 5
Species: King Salmon (Stunned) Rank: D
Description
A prized fish, it is often served in high end restaurants. They taste the best cooked over a fire with oil, salt, and pepper.
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Health [10/15]
[/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////]
You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.
MP [0/0]
[/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////]
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Strength: 3 Vitality:4 Agility:9 Sense:4 Intelligence:2
STATUS Level: 5
Species: Giant Catfish (Partially Stunned) Rank: C
Description
A bottom dwelling fish, they scourge the bottom of a lake or river to pick off worms, bugs, or other smaller fish. They are partially immune to electricity due to their thick skin.
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Health [20/20]
[/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////]
MP [0/0]
[/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////]
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Strength: 5 Vitality:4 Agility:3 Sense:5 Intelligence:3
Wait, partially stunned?
As I read the Giant Catfishes profile, said fish smacked it's tail onto the water and jumped right out of the stream. It bounced right in front of where Char and I were standing and floppily went for my ankles, sharp teeth flashing.
"AHHH!"
CRCHH
I would like to say that it was an honorable death for the fish, but I don't think there's anything honorable about getting stomped on. Now the fish was definitely fully stunned, or partially dead. With that, I grabbed one of my knives and drove it downwards right into it's head into where I thought the brain was.
[Level Up!]
[Due to racial hidden ability, leveling up for the first time has caused you to surge in power!]
Huh? Just from one fish?
Golden particles were surrounding me, similar to how Char was surrounded by black particles previously. As they got closer, my body instantly absorbed them and I started to shine a bit.
[Evolved Into Awakened Demon Lord]
I set the now dead fish down to the side before checking my stats again.
STATUS
Name: Damon Maxis Level: 3
Species: Awakened Demon Lord Rank: S
Title(s): 56th Demon Lord Fatigue: 0
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Health [1125/1125]
[/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////]
MP [500/500]
[/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////]
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Strength: 350 Vitality:200
Agility:400 Sense:350
Intelligence:350 Points Available: 50
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Effects Active:
Demon Lord's Aura - The power of a demon lord courses through your veins, +20% to all base stats
Deal With The Devil - Due to your species' strong alignment to the evil side, leveling up is made 20% easier
Skills:
Regeneration I
Quick Step I
Resilience I
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Inventory
- T-Shirt -Backpack (5/50)
- Shorts -Knives Of The Dark
- Sneakers
"ummmmmm"
Was that why I was so weak at the beginning even though I was a Demon Lord? My species completely changed despite me not feeling anything, though it was probably more of an internal change than external.
"AGHHHHH!"
It was not just an internal change! I repeat, it was not just an internal change!
Searing pain assaulted my back as it felt like my skin was getting flayed open. I dropped to the ground for the second time in a day as something sprouted from my back. A huge shadow covered the area in front of me, seemingly from the things on my back.
In agony, I painfully stood up. Char noticed my extreme pain and supported me with an arm as I struggled to rise from all the pain I was experiencing. It was much worse than the horns, by a longshot.
"Ugh! Char, what came out of my back!?"
Char glanced behind me before leaning over and grabbing one of the things behind me and pulled it to the front. As he moved back in front of me, my vision of him was blocked as a pair of dark, leathery wings covered my view.
"What the hell!?"
Char let go as I turned around to see a pair of wings had sprouted from my back. They were now just moving slightly, not really doing anything.
Retract! Retract!
The moment I thought of retracting them, they suddenly spread apart and then disappeared, vanishing without a trace.
Oh, so they can be hidden?
Being the skeptical person I was, I had to make sure that I could get them back. Flying would be pretty good in a place that most likely didn't have any forms of conventional transportation. So I thought hard about the appearance of the wings and imagining them coming out my back.
FWOOOSH
And just like that, the wings once again spread from my back and flapped once, sending a strong gust of wind that almost toppled Char over, much to his dismay. Skeletons weren't notoriously strong or heavy after all, especially a skeleton mage that wasn't weighed down by heavy armor.
"Whoa, sorry Char! Gimme a moment"
I quickly retracted my wings again to spare Char from involuntarily fly away and break into bony pieces. Now looking at my stats, I was stronger than everything I had met up to this point. I don't know how common it is to have such an insane increase in your level, but I doubted that it was normal in any way. Though I initially wanted Char to protect me, it seemed like I needed to protect him from dying now. Yes, I know from his ability that he can respawn but I'm not taking any chances.
Turning back around to the stream, I noticed that some of the fish were starting to swim away after recovering from the electric shock. That included Goblin Shark.
"Damn it, where's this sucker!?"
And like an idiot, I waded into the water to look for it. As I was picking up some of the fish and killing them instantly with the knife again, I failed to notice an approaching shark fin from the back of me.
"Ow! Something pricked me!"
As I turned around, I felt a giant mass turn around with me. This made me get out of the water, dragging the Goblin Shark that had attempted to sink its teeth into my calf with me. Even though it was attempting to bite me, it's teeth couldn't penetrate my skin so all it caused were small scratches.
"I know I should be panicking right now, but I really can't feel anything..."
I used the handle of my knife to smack it to the side, which sent it FLYING across the stream. Even though I had only meant to hit it to get it off of me, it seemed like I didn't have a very good grasp of my strength now. I grimaced as I watched the shark, or probably the corpse of a shark at this point, fly into the dark woods away from the plains.
I think I need to practice my strength when we go back.
I attempted to stuff some of the smaller fish into my backpack, but when I tried to do that the backpack opened up like a dark hole and swallowed the whole fish.
"Wha-"
[+Small Trout]
Wait a moment
I grabbed the larger fish and threw them into the bag as well,
[+ King Salmon]
[+ Giant Catfish]
"LET'S GO!"
It didn't occur to me that inventory space didn't really obey the law of science, not like anything else magic in this world really did in the first place, so because of this each fish didn't actually take up a lot of inventory space.
"Char, can you put the rest of the fish in here? I'm going into the forest for the Goblin Shark"
Char nodded as I set the bag down on the ground to go search for the Goblin Shark that I had yeeted into the distant forest (yes I used yeeted).
It wasn't actually that far away but even then, I felt like running there anyways. As I ran, I felt none of the regular fatigue and tiredness I would usually feel when running. I had run straight through the stream since it was the fastest direct route, even with that said I was running at around triple the speed I normally ran. This was amazing!
"My name is Damon Maxis and I'm the fastest demon alive! (From what I've seen)"
I quickly entered the forest, leaving the grassy plains behind me. Pine and Fir trees lined the entire forest as I slowed down to a walk to avoid hitting them. This place had it's own kind of beauty to it, but it wasn't the time to appreciate that at this moment.
Where is this thing? Oh, I see it!
The body had crashed through the forest and ended up propped against one of the large tree's. It was now covered in pine and fir needles but I could just wash those off. I picked the shark up easily, even though it was supposed to be at least as heavy as me, and moved back towards where I came from
"Alright, good enough. Let's go back home now!"
"Ke Ke Ke"
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So, keeping up with my one chapter a day schedule is pretty...interesting to say the least. Still, I think I'm doing a decent job and my viewership has been spiking so it's all worth it. On a side note, I don't think I should do full on character boxes for smaller, less important creatures because the boxes end up looking like trash.
If you guys have any questions, leave them down in the comments and I will 100% respond to each of them.
W.O.V