The first rays of morning fell.
Warm, so warm, especially compared to the scene they brightened.
Blood, puke, two collapsed bodies, the whole thing covered in so much blackish goo, as if thousands of squids had jizzed their ink all over the place. Then there was the smell, it was…. smell?!
That’s when Damon knew he was still alive.
His eyes instantly swam around the room, looking for something, something he could sense linked to his soul. Finally finding it, he held his breath…
An indescribable shadow. If anything, it looked like a small imp, if an imp’s body was made of black goo and kept rippling as if struggling to settle on an appearance. The thing turned over and...
“Greetings Master. This one shall…”
Fuck. Fuck. FUCK! Damon instantly knew as he heard it speak. This thing was his new and improved Pet, the keyword being NEW. Instead of rejoicing, his shoulders fell, hard. The cat was truly gone. The miracle he had hoped for hadn't happened.
A Cat couldn’t beat a Demon, no matter how strong the spirit. He should have known better. He had even spouted some nonsense to encourage it; talk about a shitty master! Now, it was gone, and in its place…
As the creature felt Damon’s emotions and attention, it started losing its shape, panicking.
“Miaow! MIAOW! MIAOOOOWWW!!!”
(Wait, no! It’s me, Master! I’m still me! I was just trying to act cool! You didn’t kill me, I’m fine! There was that dark thing, then the flame went WOOSH, then I died, and came back, then turned into this thing and–)
The creature didn’t run of breath, but it sure as hell ran out of shape as it lost focus, turning into a blob that started seeping into the cracks of the floor. But even like this, it was still one hell of a silly cat.
At first, Damon felt incredible relief, but then he turned serious.
“Focus. You’re a Demon now, a Pride Demon. Get a grip! You can’t show weakness, or you’ll disappear. Picture a mighty and regal form, and stick to it! NOW!”
– WRIGGLE! WRIGGLE! WRIGGLE! –
Under Damon’s eyes, the thing slowly but surely took shape, one that he couldn’t help but raise a brow at. He had told him MIGHTY and REGAL, hadn't he? Then how was this the result?!
“MIAOW!” (Success! Glossy fur, Magical Horn. Elegant Wings. Awesome, right?)
The Cat-turned Pride Demon looked exactly the same as before… except for the two tiny wings and the even tinier horn that protruded out of its forehead. Glossy? Magical? Elegant? It was 200% CUTE!
“That is… quite something.”
As Damon gave a hesitant thumbs up, the little critter glowed with Pride.
Any other creature would have used the opportunity to strengthen itself, but this one had decided to Evolve from a cat to a Magical Cat?! Then again, it had won against an actual Demon as a cat, so even that silly form could be said to be impressive.
Since the cat had Become a Demonic Being, it also meant...
[Congratulations! Contracted Unranked Pride Demon!]
[Congratulations! You’ve Officially Become a Tamer!]
[Congratul– ERROR! ERROR!]
The System having one hell of a reaction to Damon’s glorious use of the Contract System was to be expected. After all, the System’s purpose had always been to annihilate Demons, not contract them!
[ERROR! ERROR! Removing Tamer Class!]
[Congratulations! You’ve Officially Become a Demonologist!]
[Unlocking Soul Space! Unlocking Pet Pannel! Please Confirm!]
At this moment, he couldn't help but feel strange. Two days. It had taken him two days to become a Tamer, something he had never managed in his previous life. He couldn't help but have his blood boil from the excitement of threading a new path.
"Now, let's see what new abilities you possess..."
[Unranked Pride Demon]
- Aura Camouflage
- Tenacious Spirit
Unranked was the lowest grade possible, even lower than F tier. As for the abilities? Tenacious Spirit gave one resistance against mental attacks, and Aura Camouflage could fool magic detection. Combat abilities? None Whatsoever!
“Miaow!” (How is it, Master?! How is it?! How strong have I become?!)
“Very! But enough about that! We’ll be late. You still remember what today’s about, right?!” Damon’s reminder was enough to get the not-a-cat to daydream.
“MIAOW!” (Taming Academy! Here we Come!)
.
.
.
The place was flooded with youngsters.
No, flooded was an understatement. Youngsters, youngsters, some family members, some Magical Beasts on the smaller side… and even more youngsters! Youths covered the Old City’s Pavement completely.
The Old City. It wasn’t actually Old, it just looked... ancient.
Skyscrapers stacked with people? Nope! Here, it smelled of gourmet food, and the buildings looked like artwork- finely chiseled, lavish-looking, and sturdy enough to resist half an apocalypse.
As for the Amber’s Taming Academy, it fit perfectly in the area, even putting its neighbors to shame. It was MASSIVE: a gigantic glowing golden palace of Amber that felt so surreal in the urban city.
The crowd was marvelling...
“T-This is Amber Academy?! Crazy!”
“Pfft– Country Bumpkin. That’s just the Gates.”
“Gulp. When those Golden Gates open, the entire world shakes…”
The entire world shaking? Damon wryly smiled. To the current him, this was painfully accurate. So many of his plans actually rested on this place… and yet he was perhaps the only calm one here.
If one had to describe the atmosphere, they would have used TENSE.
The results of today’s assessment would change everything for the applicants. Succeed and soar to the Heavens! As for the failures… no one would even remember them. Just as Damon was pondering…
“ATCHOO! Damn allergies…”A young man suddenly turned around, giving them a death glare as he noticed the cat perched on Damon’s shoulder.
“Oy, bastard! Put that thing away or I’m gonna smash it to pieces! Ever seen a cat explode? It’s incredibly satisfying, I’ll tell you that! Now scram before I tear you a new one!” He was obviously incensed.
Put it away? Many bystanders couldn’t help but snigger when they heard this. Some glanced at Damon with pity, while others stared at him with ridicule. This sure was one hell of a hobby he had!
“Is that cat… in a Halloween disguise?”
“Obviously! Fortune Nekos don’t have wings and horns!”
“Ah, but it’s so damn cute! Maybe he’ll agree to sell it to us!”
“Can’t buy it if it’s dead. Still, better not step in; that guy’s bad news.”
The youth was unkept, but what stood out the most were his eyes: bloodshot, and glowing green?!
Anyone with common sense would have known that that green glow was trouble. Did he possess a mutant bloodline? Had he actually officially Awakened? Worse, was he already a Tamer?!
Messing with him would either spell a direct death sentence or worse. The logical thing for Damon to do was apologize and disappear, but instead, he gave his most brilliant smile and said:
“Hmmm.. Say, brother, are you constipated?”
If life preservation was graded… Damon would have been at -10!! As soon as the man’s brain registered the sentence, the Green in his eyes deepened, his muscles twitching uncontrollably.
“You. You’re DEAD!”
He lunged, his arm changing as claws erupted out of his hand. LACERATE!
NOW! Damon mentally gave the signal, and his partner activated its most powerful (and only) active ability: Aura Camouflage... FULL POWER! As the Magic activated, everything changed.
The attacker suddenly dashed backward with all he had, colliding with bystanders behind him and sending them tumbling to the ground like dominoes. Then he froze, warily growling at Damon.
…. “WHAT THE FUCK?!”
Everyone had been imagining the scene of Damon cleaved in half, but the assailant had... fled?! They gawked, trying to understand, only to find the same incomprehension in the man.
Why. Why had he stopped?! Was it to abide the law? NOPE. It was fear, a fear so primordial that even he hadn't realized what it was. His body had merely acted on instinct.
Damon chuckled. He had been right. This guy seemed to have some Feral Bloodline, giving him sharper senses but also a shorter fuse. In this case, the man's own powers had been turned against him. He had been scared by the fake aura!
“As I was saying. You’re constipated, right? You also have trouble breathing, you can feel your muscles twitching strangely, and you know there’s something wrong but can’t put your claw on it, right?”
Damon even jokingly pointed to the claw that, a mere instant before, had almost disfigured him. He seemed so aloof, the earlier tumble having cleared his immediate area of people. As for the attacker:
“H-How did you know?!” He growled, shocked.
Those were merely symptoms of stress, very natural, but in his fearful and confused state, they rang truer than any other words ever uttered. This guy… who the heck was he?! Was he a genius from a Tamer family?!
“That matters little. What if I told you I can help? The current you can show 60% of your usual power, but with my help you could attain 85% easily. What do you say?” Damon graciously offered with a meaningful smile.
The man now had two choices...
- Ignore him, stay with the issue, and possibly have angered him for nothing.
- Agree to receive his help and bury the hatchet between them at the same time.
Strong or not, pride or not, the best choice was obvious! The man didn’t hesitate, doing a complete 180 from his previous attitude, already prepared to bleed his wallet no matter the cost.
“HOW MUCH?!”
“10 Credits.”
“DEAL!”
The answer was instantaneous.
T-That was it?! This was a sum even regular people could collect! Heck, even the bandits from Chapter 2 had more money than that! As for anyone thinking of becoming a Tamer, that sum was a JOKE!
Nodding, Damon produced something out of his inventory. As soon as he did, many inched closer, but not too close, eager to see. It seemed like… a hot dog? The aromatic smell of meat wafted out of it.
The man approached, grabbing the sausage. But as soon as he touched it, his pupils expanded from shock. What the heck was this?! His hands shook, and his breathing became rapid as he leered at the food.
“Eat it. In one bite. Right now…Or I’ll take it away.” Damon stated.
Gobble! The guy devoured it like a ravenous beast starving for centuries. Then, after he was done with the sausage, he glanced Damon’s way as if begging for more.
“Only one per person… for now.” Then, ignoring the guy, Damon took plenty of things out of his inventory. Before long, he had turned the place into an instant fast food stall, having obviously come prepared. Hell, he even had a giant banner!
As for the bystanders...
"What the hell was this all about?”
“They fought, then they didn’t, and now he’s selling hot dogs?”
“They have to be working together, right? But would anyone be that shameless?”
If the whole thing were a marketing scheme, it wouldn’t take long for everything to be exposed and the crowd to turn against them. Still, many couldn’t help but be curious about it, a youngster stepping forward.
“10 credits? Ì’ll take 2, please! I’m quite peckish.”
“Received your 20 Credits! Thank you for your patronage, here is your one hot-dog.”
Damon shamelessly pocketed the extra 10 credits as a tip. He had clearly said it was one per person anyway. But just as the guy was about to complain, he froze, even more shocked than the previous guy.
Seeing this, Damon snatched the thing back.
“My food is to be eaten, now, in one bite, not to be stared at.” He shrugged.
What was he doing?! What kind of BS rule was this?! No one would tolerate such a shameless seller, especially not in front of the Tamer School! But then something strange happened…
“My apologies! I’ll eat it, please; I was merely stunned by how good it smelled! Please, I’ll pay as much as you want; I simply lost focus for an instant and–”
Damon nodded, throwing the sausage back, the customer gulping it down even more ravenously than the previous one. This was way out of the realm of what made sense, it was so freaking baffling.
“W-What am I watching? Those three have to be working together, right?!”
“I want to say yes, but part of me also really wants to try one.”
“Even if they are working together, it’s just 10 credits…”
Except it was real, that much soon became obvious as more and more customers went forward. To each, Damon would repeat the same thing. “Eat it. One bite. Right now. Understood?”
Then they’d pay, receive the food, freeze, only to wake up in panic and devour it. Heck, some daydreamed a little bit too long, only to lose their sausage privileges. Then would come the flood work to no avail.
“Please. I was just a little bit too slow. Let me eat one at least.”
“Nope. You snooze, you lose. Shoo, shoo, go buy yourself a cookie or something. Don’t disturb my business anymore.” Damon waved them away like flies, a smug cat by his side.
It glowed with pride, this was its master! It watched happily as the Credits piled up and up in its master’s account. This was daylight robbery, no way that rat meat was worth 10 Whole Credits!
But just as it seemed to be going perfectly…
“How arrogant!” A thunderous sneer suddenly resounded in the otherwise excited ambiance. How could a sneer be thunderous? Heads turned toward the source, startled by the newcomer.
The target was in full battle attire: a chef hat, a chef’s apron, and a chef’s curly mustache. A middle-aged man was approaching, a son and daughter in tow, his entire face red with criticism.
Apparently renowned locally, people called him Chef Boyarde. Then again, so what if he was somewhat famous? Damon didn’t even bother turning his head, simply serving the next customer in line.
The best way to deal with troublemakers like this one was to ignore them– or so he believed.
“Not even answering? Fine, how about this? POISON DETECTION!”
Even from afar, he aimed his hand toward Damon’s product. Then, a second later, Damon’s sausages started glowing an ominous purple. This was obviously bad news! Seeing this, many took a step back.
“Hehehe. I knew it! Your product’s flawed! That’s why you want people to eat it right now! This way, there won’t be any proof of how problematic it is!” Many were shaken by his words, even previous customers.
Seeing as people stopped approaching.
“Sigh. What do you want?”
Damon seemed less anxious than annoyed. It was evident that he didn’t consider the situation too problematic. He simply had to resolve it somehow.
“Y-You?! Have you no shame! I’ll call the Protectors on you, you’ll go to jail!”
“Says the guy that shouted Poison Detection then used a Spice Detection spell…” Damon shook his head as he clicked his tongue. “If you guys get scared by such a puny trick, you don’t deserve to buy my stuff.”
“How brazen! I 100% used a Poison Detection Spell! I restrained the Spice Detection to any component that has the potential to be used as poison! Don’t spout any bullshit!”
“Now, who’s spouting bullshit. That just means your spell failed to identify what’s inside. What else? Is having a secret recipe some great evil? What about you? Do you do voluntary work only?”
“That’s different! It still could be unsafe!”
“That so? Who’s next?”
But there was no one who was brave enough to step forward at the moment. Now that this Chef was coming forward, they suddenly had doubts. Damon’s business did sound fishy, so they’d wait a bit.
“Me! Me! Me!” That’s when the guy who had attacked him in the first place showed up again, his green eyes glowing with excitement. After having eaten Damon’s cooking, he knew what was up!
“Fine… 100 Credits for repeat customers.”
“YES!”
100 Credits?! What was up with that 10-times markup? This was for one portion, too! Wasn’t it going up a little too fast, too? Also, why had that guy paid so eagerly? Many had reservations about it.
“What’s next… 1000 Credits? Are you really gonna be–”
“You catch on quick, exactly! Now, who wants some more?”
Then started another round of selling, with a few first time customers showing up throughout it. There was obviously something about this food that made it special, many just didn’t know what.
“Fools. Fools. All of them are fools. I’ll get you evicted from this place or my name isn’t Chef Boyarde!” By now, the middle-aged man was huffing and puffing as he stomped his feet away in rage.
That’s when Damon finally gave the guy his full attention.
“You’re a Chef right? Are you any good?” Seeing as the man was about to pop a blood vessel, Damon continued. “How about this? Want to make a bet putting your reputation as a chef on the line?”
The man turned back, his ears perking up… or so it seemed as they were hidden under his chef hat. Part of him wanted to bitchslap the arrogant youngster, but his pride wouldn’t allow him to refuse.
Damon continued...
“I’ll give you one minute to analyze one of my sausages. After that, you’ll give an honest review of it, staking your reputation. If you find any problem, I’ll get up and close shop right now.”
“Is that so? Fine, let’s do this right now.”
“How confident! Fine by me…”
The chef didn’t even seem to entertain the possibility of losing, grabbing a sausage with his two hands as he gently started stroking it all over, his mustache heaving up and down.
“T-This… There’s something wrong with this! No, it’s a trick; it has to be. Just watch me; I’ll unravel it. I’m Chef Boyarde, for Gluto’s sake! I got this, no, maybe this? What about this? What the hell?!”
The more it went, the crazier he got. He rubbed his hands all over the sausage, making it glow countless colors, but to no avail. Whatever he was searching for, he couldn’t find.
“Time’s up. Now, what’s your verdict?”
“T-This is crazy.”
He took a deep breath, turning to Damon with infinite questions in his eyes. Never had he seen anything like this. This thing couldn’t be identified no matter how much he tried.
“It’s safe for consumption… but I have no idea what it is. It’s a sausage, and yet… I give up. You, where did you get that? Did you make it? If yes, who are you? What is this?” That’s when a certain pet intervened.
“Miaow!” (How shameless! This guy totally lost the bet, and he’s still asking questions!)
I was just a miaow, yet many somehow understood it. They glanced at Damon, awaiting what he wanted for winning the bet. Chuckling, he shrugged and simply grabbed the test sausage, feeding it to his pet. “Next!”
From hand to cat’s mouth, the poor Chef’s gaze never left the sausage. At that moment, he felt endless regret. Why did he have to open his big mouth? Even now, he remembered the System’s Notification.
[Ding! Juicy Sausage! This is My Body!]
[Increases One’s Vitality!]
[INVALUABLE!]
Only a dumbass would have any doubt after seeing this!
He had been that dumbass. If even he, as a professional Chef, couldn’t expose its trick, then it probably wasn’t one. He had wasted such an opportunity! As for buying another, that seemed out of the question…
While the Chef was having an existential crisis, Damon was inwardly howling. This is my body? It literally WAS! Getting rid of evidence 101. As for the vitality bonus? It was pretty much 0.
Then, the Invaluable part was simply BS. It was invaluable because of that one hard-to-get material, himself, but other than that, it was just rat meat.
They were 99.99% Placebo sausages, perfect for the occasion!
Stressed Applicants → Confident Applicants.
They were ready to show their full power, all to be admitted to the Amber Taming Academy! At the moment, they were all smiles, thanking their lucks for that fortuitous encounter.
Each smile meant 10 Credits, sometimes 100, and there were even a couple of ballers who bought a third one for 1000 Credits. This was literally a printing press for Credits, way faster than hunting! It was–
–RUMBLE! RUMBLE! RUIMBLE! –
Just as he was the happiest, the entire plaza rumbled, stopping his plans. The Entrance Exam was starting…
