Emily
[One week Later.]
[Flesh Eaters' Forest.]
[Day time.]
Aaron sat perched on a sturdy tree branch, a rare smile gracing his lips as he studied his personal status displayed by his All Seeing Eyes.
{All Seeing Eyes.}
{Name: Aaron Lucian.}
{Realm: Awakened.}
{Class:None.}
{Race: Half Elf.}
{Strength: 165.}
{Agility: 100.}
{Defense: 170.}
{Endurance: 155.}
{Affinity Mastered: None.}
{Attack: 50. Critical - 100. Combat mode - 1,000.}
{Health point: 100.}
{Intellect/ Wisdom: 35.}
{Improvement: You are getting somewhere.}
{Resistance: Poison: 60%. Darkness: 10%. Death: 0%. Light: 0%. Fire: 20%. Water: 10%. Earth: 0%. Wind: 0%. Magic: 0%. Ice: 0%. Lightening: 0%.}
"At least it's better than last time... six months ago, actually," he murmured to the rat perched on the branch beside him. "I need to get stronger than this. I can't let Lilly be ahead of me."
"What are you talking about? You're only six months old, while she's fifteen... And your growth isn't slow at all; it's exceptionally fast. I don't even understand how you've grown so much in such a short time," Protean, in his rat form, squeaked.
Aaron frowned. "Forget all that. It's time to increase my poison resistance to 100%."
"I told you, it can't be rushed like this. It took you a whole week to push it from 20% to 60%. To increase it even by a single percent now, you don't need the weak poison from a rat. Can I please take the form of something else? This feels utterly disgusting."
"You might be right." Aaron thoughtfully stroked his jaw. "To significantly increase my poison resistance, I probably need a more potent and deadly poison."
"Wait! Did you just say 'more potent and deadly'?" Protean squeaked, his rat eyes wide with alarm.
"Yes, but where can we find such poison?" Aaron mused aloud.
"Are you mad?! That will kill you! And if you die, I die too!" Protean exclaimed, his whiskers twitching frantically.
"Nothing will happen to me. If my poison resistance reaches 100%, I'll be immune to all poisons. That will be quite the accomplishment," Aaron declared, standing up on the branch.
"Why don't you focus on other resistances first? Fire resistance, for example?" Protean suggested nervously.
"That's a good idea too, but this forest is saturated with poison. Gaining complete immunity to it will be incredibly helpful and useful in this environment," Aaron reasoned, leaping down from the tree.
Protean transformed into a majestic Griffin and gracefully descended, landing beside Aaron. "The rat form is still useful, though. At most, you can put anyone with weak poison resistance to sleep for about ten hours." He bent down and picked a vibrant flower.
{All Seeing Eyes.}
{Name: Toxin Sunflower. Class: Uncommon. Info: It could kill anyone with low poison resistance in a matter of two minutes.}
Without hesitation, Aaron placed the flower in his mouth and began to slowly chew it.
"You are utterly disgusting," Protean announced from above, circling in his Griffin form.
"Mmmph... A-a man's gotta do what a man's gotta do to get stronger," Aaron mumbled through a mouthful of the toxic flower.
"Don't eat with your mouth full! Didn't Mom teach you any manners?" Protean scolded.
"I'm still confused about why you keep calling my Mom 'Mom'," Aaron said, swallowing the chewed flower.
"Because she is also my Mom," Protean stated simply.
{High amount of poison detected.}
{Poison neutralized.}
{Poison resistance: 60%.}
"Still nothing," Aaron sighed deeply, a hint of disappointment in his voice.
"We are deeper in this forest than we've ever ventured before, Master. We should probably head back with the nineteen cores in your bag," Protean advised, landing beside him.
Aaron patted the pouch on his waist and sighed again. "Just one more. Let's make it twenty."
"We've been in this forest for two days now. Aren't you worried about them?" Protean asked, his gaze shifting towards the direction of their home.
"Of course, I'm worried, but I know with Mom and her familiar, nothing will happen to Lilly," Aaron said with a reassuring tone.
"Okay," Protean conceded.
[Some Moments Later.]
The two ventured even deeper into the Flesh Eaters' Forest, pushing beyond their previous limits. They were heading towards what felt like either the very end or the very beginning of the dense woods; Aaron couldn't quite tell.
Whoosh!
Both Aaron and Protean swiftly turned their gazes around, their senses on high alert. Protean instantly shifted into his skeletal form, drawing his red broadsword, while Aaron nocked an arrow onto his bow, his movements fluid and practiced.
"Who is this scoundrel playing tricks?" Protean asked, resting his broadsword casually on his shoulder, his red eyes scanning the surrounding foliage.
Whoosh!
The figure moved with incredible speed, so fast that Aaron couldn't even catch a glimpse. He lowered his bow, closed his eyes, and focused on listening.
BAM!
He whirled around and instinctively released an arrow towards the sound. A figure clad in a black cloak gracefully dodged the projectile in mid-air and landed silently on the ground about thirty meters away.
"That creature doesn't look like a monster," Aaron muttered, his brow furrowed.
"Because I'm not a Monster," a voice replied.
"Huh?" Both Aaron and Protean were stunned into silence, the voice sounding distinctly like that of a young girl.
"Who are you?" Protean demanded, pointing his broadsword menacingly at the cloaked figure.
"Her name is Emily, a Demon," Aaron revealed, his All Seeing Eyes having already provided him with the information.
{All Seeing Eyes.}
{Name: Emily Egon.}
{Realm: Awakened Stage.}
{Class: Assassin.}
{Race: Demon.}
{Strength: 200.}
{Agility: 400.}
{Defense: 250.}
{Endurance: 500.}
{Affinity known: Wind.}
{Attack: 100. Critical - 200.}
{Health point: 300.}
{Improvement: Kill ten enemies. (6/10).}
'Her stats completely outclass mine by a huge margin,' Aaron noted grimly.
"How did you know my name?" Emily asked, slowly pulling back the hood that concealed her face.
A young demoness with long, flowing red hair and piercing red eyes came into view. Her gaze locked onto Aaron, then flickered upwards to the red skeleton standing beside him. A flash of surprise crossed her features, lasting only a fleeting second, before she asked, "How did a kid make it this far into the forest?"
"Hey you, I'm not a kid! Can't you see we're practically the same height?" Aaron retorted, puffing out his chest slightly.
"Technically, you are still a kid," Protean interjected matter-of-factly.
"No one asked you," Aaron glared at his skeletal familiar.
"I might look young, but you shouldn't underestimate me," Aaron stated firmly, meeting Emily's gaze.
"Same here," Emily replied, a hint of a smirk playing on her lips.
She studied him for a moment longer, then said, "You should go back to wherever you came from. I don't want to see you here again, or I'll have your head."
"I don't think so. If you want me to leave, you'll have to make me," Aaron challenged, his hand instinctively tightening on his bow.
"It seems you aren't going back? Fine then, don't blame me for killing an arrogant human," the demon girl said, her red eyes hardening with killing intent.
"You've made only one mistake, and that is meeting me. And I'm not a human, but an elf," Aaron declared, nocking three arrows onto his bow in one swift motion, all pointed directly at the demoness.
"Okay, 'Elf.' I hope you won't die too easily, because that would be terribly boring," she said, drawing a sleek, dark dagger from within her cloak and slowly walking towards him.
"Stay back, Protean, but don't let me die," Aaron commanded, his focus entirely on the approaching demon.
{All Seeing Eyes.}
{Combat - Mode activated.}
{Calculating success rate... Success Rate: 60%.}
Without hesitation, he released the three arrows towards her.
Whoosh!
Whoosh!
Whoosh!
"Huh?" Aaron stared in disbelief as his arrows clattered to the ground at Emily's feet, each one cleanly sliced in half. He looked up at her, his expression a mixture of shock and confusion.
"Is that all?" she asked, her voice laced with amusement.
"If that's all you've got, then it's my turn," Emily said, pulling her hood back over her head. In the blink of an eye, she vanished into thin air, disappearing completely from view.
"What the—?!" Aaron exclaimed, his eyes darting around frantically, trying to locate the vanished demon.