My life as a reborn monster-Chapter 27 - Digging For Answers

The whole trip from being rescued by Master until we arrived at the cave entrance was dead silent. No words were spoken as I was occupied by the mending of my injuries and by the fact that Master had just denounced his friendship with a king.

As we entered the cave the 3 that remained behind was instantly alert and bombarded us with questions. Where were you 2? why does Vexsus look so beat up? is everyone ok? things like that were repeated in one form or another as they saw the turmoil in Masters eyes and the pain in mine.

"Listen, I have decided that from now on you are all accepted as my true disciples. There will be no competition for the only spot any longer as I had planned but due to some unforeseen events that have quite frankly shaken me to my core I will now train all of you to be a equals."

"I will teach each of you not only to become more powerful and unlock more advanced skills but we must also awaken your talents as a Sin Descendant. I know that it is a harsh ideal for some of you." Master says this while looking at Lizaria. "But we have to utilize every means of power available to us. I received terrifying news that the other masters have allied with the Shadow Eaters and have actually exchanged their powers for the chance to rule after the Shadow Eaters destroy our world."

the 4 of us look at eachother in confusion and slight fear. I ofcourse knew what master was talking about but I did not want the others to find out from me, so I just feigned emotion. I knew that the Panther and master knew I was there, there is no way they couldn't have which means that even knowing his disciple was there master still let the panther continue revealing his plans.

I look over at master Lucan and I give him a slight nod which he shortly returns which confirmed what I thought. "Master, I know the others have questions and I do to. for instance what was that creature that you fought against?"

He looked at me with clear frustration in his eyes as his jaw clenches before he calms a little and speaks. "What I am about to say cannot leave this group do you understand?" He gives each of us a stern look and makes sure to get a response from each of us before continuing. "That was no monster, instead it was the Master of the Wild Paunius. He has power over the wild creatures and even has recently showed signs of progressing towards controlling rank 1 and above monsters."

"Ok, I'm sorry to interrupt and I know this is common knowledge to you guys but can someone inform me on why there are rankings to monsters?" I ask with clear confusion written on my face.

"What!! are you serious this is basic knowledge Vexsus. Where were you raised? under a rock?" Desmaros being the usual outspoken one speaks up. Lizaria I can see is still battling with the previous thing master said about sin. Stoney on the other hand is trying to pay attention to what he's saying but is starting to get distracted by something. It kind of looks like he's getting pulled in a direction as a sudden small twitch on the left side of his body would pull him that way, but he would correct his body and try to act like it didn't happen.

"Oh that's right you all do not know that Vexsus is actually the son of the Chief of prides son Solace, He and his brother Silace were among the first to become full blooded dragons after unlocking their dormant bloodlines. It happened with the help of your fathers Desmaros and Lizaria. If it wasn't for them most likely Vexsus would just be born as a run of the mill lizardman."

"He also unfortunately was hatched prematurely due to a monster running off with his egg. he was able to survive but had suffered a stop in his natural growth, he is the runt of his siblings." That news was a punch in the stomach for me to have that reality come crashing back to me. The looks on the others faces were of pity which I hated most of all. Who were they to pity me, I did not need pity I just started to trust these people a little which even as a human I did not do lightly. But knowing that encountering the wrong enemy could end your life quickly in this world had opened my eyes to the prospect.

But good news is that shortly after as the Torrent of pain and suffering that came from remembering all the torment that I suffered through was threatening to spill over, I felt 2 warm arms surround my neck and a sweet intoxicating smell filled my head.

"Vexsus, I didn't know I'm so sorry you had to go through all that." I was pleasantly surprised with her doing this. I also noticed that the more she held me the less I felt anger and frustration, could this be the effects of Lust? This could be a very powerful tool for her to use in the future but for now I am fully immersed in her being so close. That is until Stoney intervenes....

"Lizaria get away from him you can't use your ability like that what if he loses control again!"

"Stoney quiet if anybody needs this right now its the guy who went out of his way to do multiple things for us. But listen here Vexy I'll let this pass this one time but don't get any ideas about my cousin got it."

I opened my eyes and stared at them in a haze until my mind broke free and cleared. I realized that I was under a hypnosis ability I jumped out of her arms and shook my head to clear away the remnants of that fog that consumed my mind. "Lizaria was that your sin? That is powerful even my mind was effected."

[The skill [Mental Fortitude] has been upgraded to [Mental Fortress] due to being under the effects of a powerful hypnosis ability.]

? 'Atleast I gained something out of it, well besides the touch of such a beautiful girl anyways.'

"I'm sorry I didn't mean to do that I still can't control it sometimes especially when my emotions are high. I just felt bad for you and the thought that you were forced to deal with a horrible hatching and then to be forced into being the runt of your family must have been horrible."

"Yes, it was but enough of this. It's better if we forget my past happened just like I did and resume the questions ok? Now master ranks of monsters if you please." Ignoring the others I turn to master and try and force all the emotions that were rising back into the bottle they escaped from and back onto the shelf, locked behind a solid 10 ft. steel door vault like they should be.

"Ahem, Yes well ranks are given to monsters who have been mutated by the ambient mana in our world. Every creature is born with nothing but their flesh and bones but as time passes the mana seeps in and given the right conditions it can be utilized by people to cast abilities and spells. But if the ambient mana seeps in and it does not properly merge with the body it can instead corrupt and eventually destroy the host, but not before that corrupted thing reeks havoc on every one and every thing it sees. Ranks go from 0 to 5, 0 being creatures who are either newborn or have been altered through some means to naturally reject magic, like the humans domesticated animals. then from their its just a matter of how corrupted has it become. Which is easily told by the level of mana it emits aswell as physical signs which differ between species." f𝚛e𝚎𝘄𝒆𝚋𝚗𝚘ѵ𝑒𝚕.𝑐𝘰𝑚

"Wow now that's something new to me, I didn't know the magic in the air could have such an effect. I just thought that the ranked beasts were just powerful monsters born that way." I was actually loving this, to think that in this world there's a whole ranking system like this. That obviously means that there are hunting guilds or adventures guilds. HAHAH yes, After I finish this training My next goal is to join an adventures guild and fulfill the dream I long had as a human.'

"OK so with that answered I need to know what exactly are the Shadow Eaters? And what can we do to prepare?" I ask this for the sake of knowledge, I already plan on becoming the strongest I can but to better prepare and focus on a strategy of training beforehand would be a good path to follow.

"The Shadow Eaters are a race of magically mutated creatures that were rumored to have been created along with the creation of humans and various other races. Legends have been passed down for as long as 10,000 years ago about invasions of black furred creatures that control darkness and consume the world like a plague unless stopped by strong individuals who face off against the leaders of that invasion."

"They have succeeded numerous times but somehow always leave enough of the population to rebuild and grow back to a certain total stage of development as a world before they attack again, and each time they succeed it strengthens the next wave. Children listen, these beings whatever their true forms are, are here for one reason that is plain to see... They are here as harvesters of this world."

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[Mental Fortress] 1% - able to negate mental attacks and severely lowers the chance of mental abilities targeting the user.