Gront’s senses weren't the best but he had easily been able to notice the new smell of the two-legged thing in his forest, he had instantly turned his path when he had smelled it. So rarely did they come into his forest, but they were ever so... tasty. And the System did love it so when he killed them, rewarding him with so much XP!
He still remembered the first time when he had been granted a [Quest], it was the most clear thing to him that his purpose was to kill these two-legged things when they intruded into his forest, his quest had rewarded him with his evolution and all he had been asked to do was kill the two-legged things that had intruded into his forest.
The one he saw now was small, far smaller than the ones he had eaten before, but that was fine. He was sure it would still give him plenty of XP! And perhaps they tasted sweeter when they were smaller...
He let out a growl as he approached it, wanting to see its reaction to his greatness. The two-legged thing turned to look at him, and... Gront was confused?
It held not fear in its eyes but curiosity.
"Ra? Onx jaka ert jav E cinix, kasa rasha gorla es naxa ei? ves'na er hasak es horgarnagt re."
Perhaps, if Gront had been able to understand its language he would have understood what this thing was. Unfortunately he lacked such ability, the words that came out of its mouth were gibberish to him. But he could tell that it had a cold tone to it, one that shouldn't have made him feel as unsettled as it did.
He let out a massive roar and began to charge it with [Razorbone Charge], its massive front curving horns ripped through foliage like it was nothing as he came closer and closer to the two-legged thing. However suddenly he couldn't move his arm, he was confused... he looked down and then realized why.
Honestly it made a lot of sense, how was he supposed to move his leg when the dirt beneath it had hardened into a spike and stabbed clear through his arm. Wait... why had the earth done that? He began to frantically move his arm attempting to free it.
"How curious, it doesn't seem very intelligent." Lily's words held their cold tone as she spoke to no one but herself. "It's like it doesn't understand it was stabbed."
She raised a hand, as she casted [Earthen Spike], it tore through the other arm of the creature causing it to squirm harder. She noted that for a base spell it was rather effective, how curious maybe these Monsters were not much of a threat after all? Her golden eyes glowed slightly as she used [Inspect] on the creature.
She noted three important things, its name was Gront, it was a tier five monster and it had an impressive 158 strength. Its skills were lackluster, they all seemed to be nothing more than physical attacking skills, nothing utility to help it. She surmised it must survive off its ability to fight off other creatures alone. How crass.
With a quick double cast of [Earthen Spike] the spikes grew in size, raising the bear's torso upwards so that it was standing on its hind legs.
Lily walked forward, "To think something like this was so close, I wonder how you haven't been hunted yet. Perhaps there is some intelligence in there. Ah but you can't understand me. Too bad, this would give me more information if you could respond." she mused as she raised up her hand flat in a slicing motion, [Wind Slice] she made sure to control how much Mana she put into the spell, she didn't want to kill the creature just yet.
Was that... cruel? She paused as she watched the bear's fur and skin split, revealing the muscle beneath. She hadn't been a child that tortured bugs or animals in her previous life, nor did she have any sort of sadism fetish as far as she knew. So why was her first thought to dissect this thing while it was still alive? The thought behind her action had been simple, she had wanted to see how its organs worked while it was still breathing.
She took a step back as she considered that thought deeper, what was wrong with her?! Sure it was a monster, not human but it was still a living thing. Lily looked at the creature that was currently struggling and bleeding, she could almost hear a whimper. She quickly brought up her hand and casted [Blaze Bolt], a blast of a bright red fire shot out and instantly melted away the creature's head causing it to go limp.
Lily moved away from it, before vomiting near a tree. This place was messing with her. She had noticed many times how differently she had been thinking ever since she woke up in this world. But she wasn't sure how to handle it, she couldn't explain it to her "parents", and she doubted Kayla would understand either. She moved away from the pile of vomit and slowly sat down, her back pressed against a tree.
"Oh Alice... where are you, I could really use you right now. I feel like... like I'm losing my mind. This world is so foreign. I... I don't think I like what it's doing to me." She wrapped her arms around her knees as she felt tears well up in her eyes. She truly missed Alice, it had been years since she had gotten to see her, to hear her voice, to trace her fingers along her skin. What if she wasn't someone Alice could love by the time they met each other again?
A dark thought crossed her mind, if Alice couldn't love who this world shaped her into... she could just force her to. Magic existed, surely she could... No! She couldn't do that to Alice! What was going on! She had never thought in such a manner before why did it keep happening. She had long since noticed how she changed the way she thought about Alice in her head. Viewing her not as simply Alice but her Alice.
Lily glanced over to where the body of the bear was strung up, she laughed dryly. Perhaps she was the real monster between the two of them. It didn't help that the System acted so cheerfully about her action. The notification had been just sitting there for quite some time now.
This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.
Even the words the notification had were downplaying what she had done, defeated? She had tortured and then slaughtered that bear. It had been no great battle, she hadn't even used a noticeable amount of Mana.
What a poor joke, she hoped at least that Alice was having an easier time than her. She got up, dusting herself off, she was sure she looked terrible. Luckily there were benefits of this world, a simple cast of [Cleanse Cloth] and [Wash Skin] allowed her to get back to pristine. She still had to make her way to Fairhill, she wouldn't let her journey be a waste.
Fersuye tilted its head, although perhaps tilt was the wrong word its entire head turned and turned until it was upside down, its six eyes blinked one by one as it watched Lily Lightlash walk away, it moved to the corpse still limply being held up by the earth spikes dug through its wrist.
"She doth bathe in blood, she doth hate her bath, too weak to be a queen. Too strong to not! She must be tempered, either broken or forged."
Lily arrived in Fairhill after about another hour of travel, she was still a little shaken but had adjusted, which had shaken her more. She wasn't sure if she was adjusting or if she was just being affected by this world further, making her feel as if what had happened was lesser. Or that she could handle it.
The town was quiet, it made sense since it was night, most had retired to their homes for the night to rest for the next day. But that was fine, what Lily was truly interested in would be more active at night.
What Lily desired to investigate was quite simple, she wished to understand what kind of crime was committed within her borders. If she was this [Noble Witch] and had plans to one day become royalty then she would seek to create a kingdom without crime. Perhaps a lofty goal but surely with enough power she could do it right? She could make any criminal bend a knee in the face of absolute power.
She sighed... there she went again, her thoughts had become... so controlling, so greedy. She desired more and more and wanted to control everything around her. She shook her head, that was something to focus on later. She had powerful magic but she wasn't sure how she'd handle being snuck up on.
She began to move about, in all honesty despite being much smaller than Ravenshire it was a very nice town. Paved stone roads laid upon the earth circling around houses made primarily out of wood but some had a foundation of stone as well. She was aware of the general outline of the town; the family library had a map of it. Although, with [Quick Processing] she was able to tell that some things had changed and that map was a bit outdated.
Hm, [Quick Processing] allowed her to sort details quickly, but that didn't matter if she couldn't remember the details she'd seen. Perhaps she could find a skill related to enhanced memory recall. It would be interesting if it allowed her to notice new details she hadn't prior to having [Quick Processing].
She quickly made her way into various alleyways, seeking out some kind of trouble. That's usually how it went right? The damsel found herself alone in an alley as scum encroached upon her, only to be rescued by the dashing yet plain enough that the viewer could place themselves over him protagonist. She suppressed a laugh as she thought about all the generic protagonists she had seen in the different media that Alice showed her.
She didn't quite view herself as someone who enjoyed such content, it was always more of Alice's thing to watch shows and read comics. She would have preferred a good book, something with some substance to it, a thick volume with words designed to make you think rather than to be easily readable. But that wasn't important right now, what was important... is that the alleys of Fairhill were extremely boring.
She saw boxes, barrels, the occasional trash can which was interesting. The world had shown to be mostly undeveloped in terms of technology, while a trash can wasn't technology Lily was rather certain they didn't exist in her world during this stage of civilization. However... She also had no clue how this world had developed. She had put almost all of her study time into that of books on magic and neglected to learn much of history.
She knew remotely that they were currently in the 6th Era, she was unsure of how long each Era had lasted but she knew that each ended with pretty major events which birthed the next era. She knew that they had been in the 6th Era for around five hundred years, and that the event that had birthed it was something called The Descent of Purity, something to do with Angel's appearing all over to end a world spanning conflict.
Angel's huh, Lily wondered if they were classified as Monsters by the System or if they had their own classification. There was plenty to ponder about the world, she didn't even know how big it was or what other countries existed. She very quickly realized how ignorant she had been. She truly needed to expand her studies outside of magic, then she noticed something. A shadow skulking about near her, she turned her gaze only to discover a cat. It was staring directly at her, she gave it a quick [Inspect].
Name: Luna
Race: Street Cat (Tier 2)
HP: 28/35
Mana: 0/0
Strength: 12
Dexterity: 28
Constitution: 18
Intelligence: 13
Wisdom: 11
Charisma: 55
Luck: 0
Skills
Begging 6
Enhanced Senses 3
Night Vision 3
Perfect Balance 8
Stealth 5
Human Language 1
Hm, so even simple animals were connected to this System and classified as monsters, and this one in particular had an understanding of their language. She supposed that meant that all monsters had some sort of base intelligence, perhaps it was higher in others. If they had evolutionary paths to become something like a [Bonespiked Bear] versus a [Street Cat]. She wondered what drove them to make their choices, was it purely environmental or did each have their own goals? Were they mindless and got evolutions at random?
There was much to consider, she was about to reach out and pet the cat when suddenly its hair stood up and it hissed, she frowned at that. Why was it hissing at her? Why- A cloth pressed to her mouth and lips, she felt arms restraining her body, she had to cast she had to- darkness... took her.