"Monsters or more commonly called "magical creatures" are beings existing on a different plane of the System. They primarily subsiding on mana around them but some can indulge themselves in normal food with varied consequences. They are always gifted in some way by the System either in ridiculous statistics or abilities. For example, a Csord is one of the most physically powerful monsters encountered in the forests of western Edor, their strength allows them to easily charge through dwarven-made gates, bursting them out of their giant hinges and flinging them for dozens of meters. If statistics were the ultimate factor in combat even a Crimson rank team of seasoned adventurers could never kill Csord but that is not the case.

The system doesn't give things for free, it balances monsters by creating great imbalances. Even with their monstrous strength Csords are incredibly dumb. A common occurrence when fighting Csord is that the great powerful monster will simply forget the existence of its attackers after hiding from its sight and will simply walk away allowing the people hunting it to slowly grind its health down.

The most dangerous monsters are not the ones who have the highest statistics but the ones who possess intellect which rivals us but even then System balances them by creating weaknesses which are impossible to cover. All undead possess fatal weakness toward holy or light magic while fey will be thrown into a berserk rage if their forest is under attack."

-Extract from "On Monsters" by a retired adventurer teaching in Oriripol.

 

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"Did you sleep well?" Iris's words tickled the restless girl sleeping on top of her arm. The early sun just crested the tall grass causing the snow girl's skin to glow.

 

"Could you turn off the ball?" The girl's pale skin wrinkled slightly as she squeezed her eyes shut.

 

"The ball?"

 

"The fireball in the skyyy." Kia whined to the evil elf who didn't turn off the sun for no other reason than to spite the innocent girl.

 

"Here." The elf covered the needy girl's eyes with her hands, blocking the ball's light.

 

"Huh?" The girl made an adorable noise of surprise as the annoying rays of light suddenly vanished. "How did you do that?"

 

"Could you move up slightly?" Iris asked the petite undead laying on her arm which the girl reluctantly did. "You are so hopeless~" She said as Kia took the chance she had to nestle herself around the warm elf, burying her face in the ample softness of the elf's chest.

 

The little featherless hatchling in the elf's arms managed to draw out her bedtime by an entire bell before the heartless immoral elf unglue herself from the girl's innocent desire to never let go of the warm-blooded undead.

 

"Grumble, grumble, grumble..." Kia adorably groaned under her nose as her last effort to reattach herself onto the already standing elf. "...meanie!"

 

*Sniff*

 

The elf sniffed in terrible sadness which the laying girl had caused her. The girl quickly scrambled to remedy her terrible mistake by standing up and hugging the elf.

 

"Shameless~" Iris grinned playfully at the fully revealed girl. "You want me to dress you?"

 

Kia squealed adorably before the elf grabbed her clothes and helped her dress. The long black dress with silver highlights smoothly slid onto her body covering the girl completely, leaving only her arms exposed.

 

"Are you ready?" The tall elf asked as she scanned the horizon.

 

"Yes.” Kia said before she clicked her fingers causing the slowly patrolling construct to return to her side.

 

"Are you not dismissing him?"

 

"Mmmm," The knowledgeable necromancer scanned her construct from head to toe. "Can I?"

 

"It's not an undead so I don't see why would you dismiss it when we are wandering around with no one around."

 

With the elf's opinion weighing down on one side of the invisible scale, the soulless construct's life was saved for at least one more day.

With the sun slowly creeping up the three unliving beings began to cut through the tall grass leaving two distinct tracks behind them as the Kia's summon walked faithfully behind its maker.

 

The girl’s curious eyes slowly lost their brilliant spark as the endless featureless green sea seemed to have no end as bells slowly passed.

 

“Iriiis, I am bored.” Kia whined to the taller undead.

 

“What should I do then?” The elf’s eyes looked down at the frowning mage beside her. It was the first time Kia complained about being bored while walking through the wilderness to the elf.

 

“Ehhhh...something?” The girl stumbled on her words, not expecting her silent companion to answer.

 

“How about you teach me something?”

 

“Like what?" The mage tilted her head to the side as her eyes search for an answer to her boredom.

 

"Magic of course."

 

"I know that, but what type of magic? Ward spells, curses, transmutation, necromancy, illusion, evocation, summoning, destruction spells? Maybe a psyche-type spell... oh oh fleshwarping sounds like a relaxing thing to teach... wait! Fleshwarping is too advance for you, let's start with blood-type spells! *Grumble* But before you could do that I would have to teach you psychokinesis first and then water-" If the necromancer was alive she was sure to run out of breath as she rapidly started to list progressively more concerning terms with her face going through all of the emotions from boredom to excitement to annoyance at her magically ignorant companion.

 

"How about you teach me how to heal you?" Iris suggested before the girl ran out of control with her bizarre ideas.

 

"That's bland, though." Kia puffed up her pale cheeks at the taller undead who had interrupted her increasingly brilliant ideas.

 

"Which means it is easy for me to learn doesn't it?"

 

"Fine," The petite undead answered before quietly grumbling under her nose. Iris observed the groaning dwarf-like girl beside her with a small smile slowly forming on her face. She expected the soft-skinned and beardless dwarf to pull out a small yet impossibly thick leather book with a weathered spine and start recording the multiple grudges she just caused against the adorable dwarf. "But only if you cook today."

 

Before the risen could respond to Kia's demands, the girl's cold hands grabbed her left arm. The mage's thumbs began to massage the top of Iris's hand in a circular fashion and before the elf knew it a black fog was seeping out of her hand.

 

"See this?" The girl calmly said. "This is pure death mana and all undead need this to survive. This is a building block of our entire body and it saturates every part of our bodies completely. When you take damage a bit of death mana escapes or is used to repair your body and when it runs too low the ritual binding your soul will cease to exist." The girl explained as she cut the elf's skin, causing the black fog to be drawn to the opening.

The fog sank into the small cut before it morphed into the elf's skin with no sign of the wound remaining behind. "All undead have a regeneration ability but most low-level undead are not saturated enough with mana to regenerate by themselves but because of that fact a simple transfer of enough death mana should heal almost any wound."

 

"I just have to pour my mana inside to heal them?" Iris asked as she extended her arm toward the girl.

 

"Not mana but death mana specifically. If you pour any other type of mana you are going to waste it at best." The necromancer quickly corrected her elven apprentice as she swiped the elf's hand away from her.

 

"And how do I choose which mana am I using?"

 

"You have to work on your imagination." Iris's teacher shrugged her shoulders before a gilded knife appeared in the air in front of her. The knife's handle was wrapped in brown cloth allowing the undead mage to grasp its blessed surface. She motioned the construct to come closer and to show its back to her. With her finger, she drew a magical symbol on the summon's back which glow in a pale purple light before she slashed it with the blessed knife. The knife's sharp blade easily cut the statue's clay back even with the girl's poor grip on the blade, leaving a deep gash. "Practice on this."

 

Iris put her hand on the living statue's back and started to try to pour her mana into it all while an inquisitive necromancer silently watched her actions with a bored expression. The elf's forehead was wrinkled into a frown as she tried to remember how to control her mana again. The experience felt a little like trying to remember how to breathe again.

After a long still, a moment of nothing happening elf felt something moving inside her arm as she lost her focus momentarily, the feeling slowly accelerating toward her palm before shooting out alongside a bell chime.

 

In an instant, small scorch marks appeared on the mage's summon which grew rapidly as blue lighting danced between her extended right arm and the summon with a loud hum accompanying it.

 

"Woooaah!" On the bored necromancer's face, a large awestruck expression washed her previous one off as her mouth made an "O" shape.

 

"How do I stop this?" Iris asked as she straightened up and stared at her right arm and the blue lighting arching on top of her pale skin.

 

"Stop supplying mana to the spell." Kia eventually responded to the increasingly worried elf.

 

"I stopped it though, Kia."

 

"Wow!" The undead mage gasp in excitement before it faded into a thoughtful silence. "Could you punch something?"

 

The elf did as she was told and punched the ground below her causing the arcs of lighting to dance between the blades of grass close to her. Something inside of her was disappointed at the aftermatch of the powerful-looking spell with not even a blade of grass being merciful enough to allow itself to be set on fire.

Contrary to the disappointed elf the mage looked extremely happy with the aftermath as she poked the petrified construct.

 

"Could you do it again?!" Kia pleaded as out of nowhere the familiar eye of the grimoire stared at the risen.

 

"I could, but why?"

 

"Because you made a spell I never saw before." The girl answered with anticipation as she leaned closer.

 

"Really?"

 

"Yes." The necromancer's pale blue and golden eyes smiled at the tall undead with cold calculating anticipation as she brought her finger onto the paper and stared at her newfound curiosity.

 

"Oh, no." Something inside Iris moved as she stared at the pair of glowing jewels grinning at her, foretelling her nearing doom.