25 Saying farewell!

"Are you sure this is where the signal came from?" Two men with white robes stood outside of a vast city looking down at it from a golden nimbus their face covered by a crying mask. The one talking was the smallest of the two, he had a piece of jewelry hanging around his neck signifying his rank. The pendant had on it the number 35, meaning he was one of the numbered, a special force under the demonic corps.

"Yes, after receiving the sigil we were able to pinpoint the area within a mile and a half." The other man in white answered his voice low and heavily. "We can not narrow it down from there."

"It's suffice, we can just eliminate the city. There are only three cultivators in the city, not enough to save them if we do a rush."

"Imp rush? Those critters do need to be cut down around now. Their numbers are too numerous to allow us to supply them any longer." The taller one snook his head, "Two birds one stone, no reason to contact headquarters for confirmation since its only the lives of imps."

"Agreed." The higher ranked man turned his sight away from the city, and waved his hand lazily. "Gather the imps, attack the city this should only take five days. We can blame the attack on one of the imp chieftains and execute them to make sure peace stays stable between the humans and the demons. They wouldn't start war just for this small city."

As the demon left he started whistling the marching song of death, it wasn't clear if he was whistling for the imps or the humans as death would be numerous on both sides. No matter who he whistled for, these were the orders of a demon king, they could not be questioned. Demon kings were groomed no matter their personalities into Devils who would be a representation of their sin, one of the ten godly sins of the world.

Greed, lust, pride, wrath, sloth, envy, gluttony, necromancy, compulsion, and transformation. The seven sins of the soul, the three sins of magic. These were the rules that demons lived by, these were the freedoms they allowed themselves, and the chains they freely shackle themselves with.

"Eh, the human had to get in touch with the Demon King of Envy, not many Demon Kings would stoop so low to kill a mere child who contacted them." Shaking his head, he looked to the small talisman he had under his cloak. This was the talisman of Apathy, a trait he himself knew he lacked, but it marked these demons as ones that did not have a sin to cultivate.

Taking off his mask, not much was different from a human. His face was handsome, with soft cheekbones but a sharp jaw, eyes a pale blue, his skin pale like fresh fallen snow and his lips the same color as his eyes. On his head, instead of hair was black feathers that were hard to the touch much like scales, and a light blue crystal sitting firmly in the middle of his forehead.

He had been born with an affinity for an element instead of a sin, this was a grave disappointment to any demon clan. Joining Apathy was the only way he could redeem his father and mother for creating such a useless spawn. Clenched fists, and grinding teeth were his years to reach where he was today and still he was taking orders from useless frogs.

With a look of pity, his gaze lingered on the town before he looked away. Just more deaths to weigh down his conscience until the day he could gain enough power to be free himself. "The greatest sin, is still the sin of hope."

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Famished, I dug into the meal set before me with a chuckle as a series of notifications came up. Two servants and Jade were looking at me in astonishment as I ate all the food brought in. Luci had a look of betrayal on his face, but it'd go away once the next round of food came in.

No, I was not losing myself into gluttony I just knew that I needed to raise my defenses as high as they could go. Even if the gains were meger, with the amount of food I was digesting, nearly twice my actual weight, they added up.

The servants looked relieved as I pushed the plate away, letting out a long sigh as I stretched. This food, even if magically added to my stomach in some way that didn't make me explode needed to be released as energy. Making tens of hand signs in a second I yelled, "Water Style, dragon bullet!"

A few seconds passed with nothing happening, I sighed almost as long, it seemed that studying those hand signs wouldn't be useful in this world at all. With one scratched off the list, I created small disk with energy making sure the edges were serrated. Why create spells from nothing, when there was hundreds that I knew?

Forcing the disk to spin it started, making a weird sound and I let it fly through the room into one of the angels in its defensive stance. The disk sunk about three inches before disappearing, it was actually an impressive feat even if it didn't sound like it. With the strange looks I was getting, I choose not to yell out the name of the attack.

With a smile, I invited Jade to train with me a bit, her help while going through the forest really speed up my training. She was much more agile than I was when it came to going through the branches seeming like a graceful bird flying through the random branches. She was added as one of my assistants for my journey, so I had gotten her three ointments for the body.

Sun Radiance Oil: Increases the durability of the joints when used over a year period.

Vibrant Snake Venom: A light paralyzing agent to get the body more used to fighting off poison and venoms.

Strained Fairy Liver: Used to detox the body and increases the body's immune system.

I had had too many games where people died of malaria before we could get anywhere so she sure as hell isn't going to get sick. She wasn't meant to be a fighter, more of an assistant anyway, so focusing on her health with the hundred gold I had put aside for her would go far in the long run.

Joshua was expensive though, an amulet to improve mana flow, a rare set of incense that allowed one a higher chance of inspiration when lit, bloodspider weave silk traveling robe. All of it cost five hundred gold, but every adventuring party needed a healer.

After a few hours we were back, with a pouch at my side, a gift from Solomon which he promised was something every magician needed. It was a pouch that had a ten foot by ten foot area inside of it that I could place items.

As my little demons gathered up, I put them into a bag that was already set aside for them, only Luci sitting with me on my shoulder. His head was raised like a proud prince on his steed which made me a bit irritated, but he was my most useful minion. My war doll had her sword strapped to her back, the adamantine seeming to absorb the light from the surrounding area.

As this was my first time outside the gates I had hired a helper too, just in case I needed help in my fights. He was rated rather high for his knowledge about beasts, even if his fighting skill was related low. Considering we wouldn't be fighting anything that powerful he came recommended by some of the people I had talked to for my purposes.

As for myself, I bought a fully enchanted wardrobe, a lot of it focusing on self repair and self cleaning. Two bracelets were along my wrists that were supposed to increase mana recovery, and a black stone rest against my neck that was said to help cleanse food when it passed through the throat. My weapons had all been upgraded to mithril for their light weight and durability, plus they could handle mana better than most materials.

Not to let my alchemy background go to waste, I immediately filled my pouch with an assortment of potions, elixirs, ointments, and incense that I thought would be useful for our trip. Very few poisons made it into the pouch as the area that we were going to was a spot where a lot of them actually grew. As they say, always prepare double the amount of items when you're heading out just in case and I planned on training in the forest for two months.

The others would bring their own supplies, I had handed over fifty gold to both Joshua and Jade for the necessities which both of them thought was excessive. None of them knew where my excess money was coming from, but over the past month my factory had been busy supplying me with hundreds of gold. My movements were now closely watched, but no one dared enter my room again as far as I could tell.

After supplying the room with the last of my mana for the defenses, I looked back with a bit of melancholy. This was the only place I felt at home now since it was most of my stay in this world, I felt like I was preparing to leave it forever with the amount of supplies I had.

Shaking my head, I closed the door to go meet with my allies and my guide in the jungle, nicknamed Kingfisher after the bird for his agile movements through the forest.