Ambitious Monster

Pov change:

What was presented was a truly disturbing scene. An older child was chewing on a woman's corpse. The child however, wasn't disturbed.

The child only held a will to live. It seems like it was a huge struggle, as their arms were filled with scratch and bite marks. How could such a weak looking child manage to do this?

The child only had rags to their name. They had bags under their eyes, with skin barely covering their fragile bones. This made their gender impossible to tell. Every once in a while, the child would gag and throw up in their mouth. It seems they knew how filthy it was, but it needed to eat.

After a few more minutes of eating, it was about to walk away from the corpse, it heard… clapping? Yes, it was clapping. They quickly turned to the clapping, ready to fight to the death, when they saw who was clapping.

It was an odd man. The child was confused. It had never seen a man wear what appears to be a purple half dress. The thing that really captured the child's attention, was the man's condition.

His clothes seemed perfectly tailored, his hair was smooth and clean, and he had a good physique. He clearly didn't belong to this part of town, but he was clapping at her? He most likely wanted something bad from the child.

The child knew all sorts of pain from it's fourteen years of living in this hell. They could tell the man wanted something from it. What was it? They couldn't tell.

"I want to offer you a deal to leave this place. I don't expect you to trust me, but at least hear me out.", he said. When the man didn't see the child respond, he continued.

"I see great ambition in your eyes. I know you would be willing to do anything to become powerful. That's why I'm offering you a chance to leave this place. The person who strikes first is always the one who gains the most power after all.", he said.

This time the child did respond. Their voice was an imitation of different voices it heard from before. All these voices had one common thing. It was to cause fear, or appear menacing.

"Tell me already then.", the child said. They didn't want to stay with this man too long. Who knew how sick in the head this man might be?

"It's simple really. You see I want the techniques of the academies in this city, and the knowledge they hold. I'll teach you the basics, and I'll also give you food and money. I picked you because I know you're not like the other kids in these slums, or else you would be dead. You want power and I want knowledge. My intentions are genuine.", the man responded.

At first the child was thinking about why the man couldn't do this for himself? What could he want from them? The child was ambitious though. They thought of all the things they could do with such power.

The child could feel the man was powerful. Dozens of fights to the death sharpened its instinct. All of this, combined with how confident the man was, let the child consider the man's offer. The child couldn't just stop being captivated by how confident the man was.

The child knew that the man was just using them, but it wouldn't matter as long as he kept his end of the bargain. This was a fair deal to the child. Nothing was ever truly free and done out of pure "good". In it's mind it would just use this man until it was powerful enough to overcome the man. Then, it would escape him.

"I accept your offer.", the child said. Without responding, the man threw a blanket over the child at superhuman speeds. The child instinctively tried to bite the man because of the sudden movement. Before it could, it found itself instantly in a forest.

Pov change:

I knew that child would accept my offer. It's attitude could use some work, but they should suffice for now.

When I teleported us into the forest, I said, "For now I want you to stay here and rest. I will go back and get you some clothes and some food."

I went in between the trees once again to go buy them. While I was searching for businesses to invest in, I got 6 more cores from the demons I hunted before. I also rented a hotel, but I couldn't let my new subordinate show up looking like a peasant.

I planned to leave him in the forest and give him the instructions I still had on cultivating the body. I will also give him military training. I had no idea what the test to get into the academies looked like, but I had to make sure he was strong enough to pass.

I lattered returned and provided him everything he needed.

"I'm going to occasionally come back to train you to fight and hunt. All you need to do is find food and shelter. This is to prepare you for becoming a cultivator. In order to gain power you need sacrifice and resolve. I will only let you back into civilization when I deem you ready.", I instructed the child on this development.

It took me a while to help him accustomed to this new situation. When it reached midnight, I finally returned to my hotel room. I don't know how long I could take that child's smell. Even after washing himself in a river, I could still smell the garbage coming from his awful filth.

We only have 26 days until the academy contest. Strangely enough, the calendar in this world only had 30 days each. I decided to start my research about the different "clans" in this city.

Apparently, they were like the nobles of this world. They held all the money, influence, and cultivation power in the city. This would be the start of my stealing spree.

8 days later....