I’ve Stolen Some Decorations

As soon as Sho left, Arlo started to get to work. "Hey system please show me my stats." Arlo looked at the main ones. So he was now an assassin with stealth and dagger as skills. He should start by testing them out.

Class: Assassin

Subclass1: Ranger

Unique skill: ????

[New skill: Stealth level 1]

[New skill: Dagger level 1]

Level: 1

EXP 0/100

Mana: 0

Energy 5/5

HP: 100/100

"Stealth" he whispered. He wasn't too worried about Sho, but he also didn't feel like talking loudly and attracting the demon.

[Unable to activate your mana is zero] replied the system.

"Okay how do I get it higher" he muttered but got no response. He pulled the black dagger from his shadow.

"Dagger?" he said the skill more like it was a question.

[This is a passive skill] replied the system.

"Oh you're not helpful at all" he growled. "Why don't you put passive or active by the skills then."

[Confirmed status of skills now displayed]

"I hate but love you. System"

[Affirmative]

Arlo looked at the newly displayed stats.

[New skill: Stealth level 1][Active requires 10 mana to activate]

[New skill: Dagger level 1][Passive grows with level]

"Okay system will killing monsters help me level up" Arlo asked. He got no reply. This system was so helpful but unhelpful. At times it seemed smart and others well... not so much.

"Let's go find some monsters and test my theory." Maybe this castle had some low level ones that Sho possibly just ignored.

Arlo slipped out the door and down the hall. The castle already reminded him of a maze. Was this place a castle? Sure why not until he had a better name for it this was the demon lord Sho's castle.

Arlo refused to call him a decent demon. He had to earn those nice words. Sure he appeared decent compared to other demons, but a demon is a demon. Who knew what kind of other motives he had.

"Come on there had to be a few level 1 rats roaming around in a giant castle right?" Arlo whispered to himself.

He passed through several more rooms. At this point he literally might get lost in this place, maybe he should have left little markers on the walls. Finally something caught his eye, it wasn't a rat though.

[Sun Silkworm level 2: weakling]

[HP 200/200]

It seemed to be lounging on a couch. It was interwoven with one of the throw pillows. Arlo smirked; this demon must not come here often if level two silkworms had taken over the place. There were a few more also attached to other pillows in the area.

Arlo raised his dagger, time to find out if a level one could beat a level two. He raced at it and stabbed. It dodged him easily though. To his surprise it kept dodging him but didn't go on the offensive. Arlo after several swings, managed to land a hit.

{HP 150/200]

"Why must everything here be so freaking strong!" he grumbled. It took him a solid ten minutes to kill the silkworm.

[Congrats! Level up] [Arlo: Level 2][EXP: 20/200]

"Finally!" it wasn't much but it sure beat nothing. That was also when he heard laughing.

Arlo spun around to see Sho watching him with an extremely amused expression. Arlo waited for him to stop but the demon looked far to amused to retain his calm demeanor.

"Okay stop already!" Arlo growled. Sho went quiet but the smile gave away his feelings. Arlo glared even more, "What, is it so wrong to try to gain some experience since I've been living under a rock!?"

Sho grinned again "That was amusing because my pillows have orders not to attack anyone within the castle."

"Pillows?" muttered Arlo looking again at the weird silkworms.

"Yes my imported sun silkworm pillows from the southern district, you are currently 'fighting' my interior decorations." Sho was laughing again.

Arlo looked away to hide his face which was growing more red by the second. He was fighting this guy's decorations! They weren't even real monsters. No wonder it had only dodged. So his new answer was no, a level one could not beat a level 2.

"You know it's worth it, feel free to kill a few more of my pillows. You are very cute to watch when you're trying to be tough." Sho sat down on one of the couches and waved toward the pillows "Have at them!"

Arlo felt infuriated with this demon. He desperately wanted to kill a few more pillows, but he would not give in to this mocking demon.

"I'll pass" Arlo replied coldly, "I'm sure I can find some pests to fight instead of your décor." With that he moved into a different hallway heading downward as more laughing filled the room behind him.

The stupid demon was probably following or at least tracking him. He needed to find something that would fight back. If all the décor in the house wouldn't fight then it made it simple enough to tell the difference between the two.

Arlo ran into a slight problem. Everything he came across so far just dodged him. It had been almost an hour. It didn't help that he was now completely lost in the castle. Heck he might even still be going away from his room. Just how big was this place? Sho hadn't shown up again, thank goodness, he didn't want to deal with the demon.

Was this the kitchen? The room was large and spacious and things resembling pots and pans were on the walls. A small dragon was sleeping in a corner.

[Heat Dragon: level 5 Weakling]

He tossed a rock at it. It dodged. Another stupid piece of furniture, or maybe it was a pest remover? Just then a door burst open. Arlo quickly moved under a counter and behind a bag of something. It was the same child he had seen at the auction. The one Sho had bought before him. The tiny demon went over to the dragon with what looked like a pile of bread dough.

"Cook please." He said giving it to the dragon.

To Arlo's shock the dragon scooped it up in his mouth and a few seconds later spit out a fully cooked loaf of something. The kid left with the food and the dragon closed its eyes again. Arlo wanted to laugh at his own situation. The dragon was an oven, a fire breathing oven.

"Ugh this is hopeless." He growled to himself as he took another door which look mostly abandon. Cobwebs lined the edges of it.

"What is this? A dungeon?" Arlo muttered as he entered. Maybe it was some underground escape tunnel for it the castle ever was breached. There was basically nothing here it was dark and made of stones. A few little lights of something lined the walls. He walked down it cautiously and suddenly smiled.

[Small rat level 1 weakling]

[HP 100/100]

Surely this little guy was not furniture. Unless the demon decided to decorate his escape tunnels? He reached down a picked up a small stone and threw it at the critter.

It didn't dodge, instead it caught the stone in its mouth then spit it out turning to Arlo. Its eyes started to glow red and it launched itself at him.

The little guy was fast. Arlo..... not so much. The rat swiped at him and Arlo barely managed to dodge let alone return an attack of his own. On the next strike it bit into his leg pulling away a chunk of his skin. Arlo yelped and finally managed to stab the critter.

EXP [120/200]

HP [130/200]

Stupid overpowered rat. It was time to return he needed some better armor against these little guys. Maybe some leather shin guards. He turned and was about to start walking when a bunch of tiny squeaks greeted him.

Arlo gulped and turned slowly around. Lining the walls were rats. Hundreds and hundreds of rats. All of their little eyes were focused on the prize, Arlo shivered. Maybe fighting rats was a worse idea than he originally thought.

He didn't budge, the rats slowly descended but seemed to keep their distance. Maybe his little level two status kept them away or they had bad eyesight. If he could just back up to the door. He slowly took a step backwards.

All of the rats immediately leapt at him. He was covered in them. Arlo thrashed trying to shake them off as he felt sharp stabs in his side. The rats were eating him alive. At this rate he might bleed to death before they managed to eat him.

[HP 90/200]

[HP 50/200]

[HP 0/200] [Energy 4/5]

[HP 30/200]

Death by rats, a fitting end for Arlo's sorry excuse of a life. Why did nothing ever go right for him. Arlo closed his eyes hoping for a nice peaceful reincarnation this time around.