It's been one year since Asher infected Lucy, there has been a lot of progress during this time, Lucy has been studying magic and swordsmanship, it was decided that because of her talent she would be joining the magic academy. The Silvertip fat bastard got very mad upon learning that Lucy became capable of using magic but he hasn’t done anything to the Crest family…. yet. 

Asher also did many things during this time, he managed to infect around 35% of the forest near the Crest family mansion, which caused him to obtain and evolve many skills. He managed to complete his quest and obtained a lot of XP, currently his level is 85, he also noticed that the speed at which he obtained XP got reduced by a lot.

Asher tried to infect the fat bastard and make him commit suicide but that bastard was very advanced on magic and as soon as Asher entered his bloodstream he got incinerated by the vast amount of mana, the same happened at the Crest family, he could only infect people below “low” rank.

He also learned many things during this time, noble households have ranks, these rank goes like this: servant < low rank < medium rank < high rank < Head Family. Lucy's family belongs to the “Head Family”, which is also one of the reasons why she was looked down upon by the rest of the family. 

Monsters have ranks too, F = Silver wolfs or lower, D = Orcs, C = Trolls, B = Manticores, A=Dragons, S = they are special entities such as Chimeras, they are a continent-wide danger, EX= they are entities such as Demon Kings or Baphomets, they are worldwide treats. 

Adventurers also have ranks, yet they are weaker. To kill an S rank monster, more than 150 S rank adventurers are needed. 

There are only three continents in the whole world: The human continent, The Demi-Human continent, and The Demonic continent. The Human continent is divided into two kingdoms and one empire. Empires are selected as the most powerful and influential between all surrounding kingdoms, The Griffin Empire, the Dark Kingdom, and the Golden Kingdom.

The Golden kingdom is the kingdom with the most wealth, they manage most of the trading on this continent and with The Demi-Human continent, yet they lack power, the only reason that they weren't taken over by any other kingdom is because of the “peace treaty”. 

The Dark Kingdom is the kingdom with the most powerful warriors but the most dangerous land and few people. They are surrounded by dark forests, which are forests with a high amount of demonic mana, making monsters mutate more easily, the weakest monster on these forests is C rank, but most dangerously they have a Death Lake, a lake made 60% of demonic mana, the weakest monster on that lake is A rank, some S ranks also live there, but even with all that they on lack money and political influence.

And finally, the Griffin Empire has the largest land on all the continent, they have strong warriors on a higher amount than the dark kingdom, but they are slightly weaker, they also have a lot of wealth but on a slightly lower level than the Golden Kingdom, but they have something really important that makes them special, a Dungeon, a Holy Temple, the Griffin Knights, and the Magic Academy.

A Dungeon is a special place given by the gods, it absorbs most of the demonic mana nearby, making the surrounding area safe, but it uses that mana to create monsters and treasures. It looks like a stone tower but it goes downwards. Legend has it that there are a total of 1000 floors, it is said that if you reach that deep you would get the chance to become a god yourself.

The Holy Temple is one of the most connected temples to their respective gods, the Holy Temple pays respect to The 5 Major Gods, priests there get Divine Messages more often, and the Divine messages are clearer.

The Griffin Knights are knights that work under the command of the God of Law and Justice, the only requirement to enter is to receive Dike’s Divine Blessing and successfully make a pact with a Griffing. Griffins are servants of Dike, along with Angels.

The Magic Academy is a continent-wide academy, it is under Tyet the God of Knowledge and Magic, they specialize in all elements of magic. It is a tradition for the most powerful mages to be a tutor there for at least 5 years. The entrance age is 14, there are only 2 years of teaching, if one decides to stay longer they will be known as a “Researcher”.

But nothing comes without a price, south from the empire there is one big mountainous place called “The Dragon Nest” as the name suggest, it is a place where dragons live in abundance, it is the most dangerous place on the whole continent and possibly the world, the whole land is full of Dark Forests and it even has a Death Lake, the only reason the whole continent has not been destroyed by them is because of a 1000 years old contract: The dragons would remain on that land and in exchange humans will live close to the outskirt, this would prevent monsters from trying to escape from the dragons, reducing the chance of them needing to migrate from there.

As of now Asher and Lucy reside on the west of the empire, just below the Dark Kingdom, the excuse for the Crest Family being there is that they are collecting materials from a nearby forest that contains many monsters, but the real reason they are there is to keep an eye on the Dark kingdom, as it is no secret that currently the whole continent is on the brink of war.

Asher also found out a few things about the system: The system will slowly evolve to adapt to the user, it will try to simplify the information to its user, the missions are not assigned by the system’s AI but by another being, and the quests are related to Asher’s surroundings and capacity, it won't ask for him to infect a dragon when he is level 10 nor will it ask him to infect a Dark Elf when he is at the human continent.

Currently, Lucy is walking in the forest in which she met Asher, she is being accompanied by 4 soldiers so an accident like last time doesn't happen again. Asher’s consciousness is currently inside Lucy's mind so he is aware of what is happening around her.

{Thank you, Asher}

{“What is that all of a sudden?”} 

{It's just that if it weren't for you I would not have been able to use magic, and the kids from the lower tiers on the family would still keep making fun of me}

{“Don't mind th-”}

Asher's sentence couldn't be completed as he was an arrow pierced the head of one of the bodyguards, before any of them could process what was happening, more arrows came from the bushes and trees around them, all four guards were killed at an instant.

A tall and muscular man approached Lucy who was frozen in fear, he tied her up and pulled her deeper into the forest. Asher who was more composed could see 13 other men, all with a bandit-like look following behind.

{A-asher, what do-}

{“First try to calm down, I have a solution to this”}

Jairo481

and there you have it, next chapter will be Asher torturing the bandits.

Spoiler

yet the ones that survive will be brainwashed.

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