Monster!; What was she doing there?;

As Kerren ovserved the summoning circle and the thing that was being summoned he thought about his chances against it and his options in general. It it was too strong he would run away wasting a lot of crystals doing so, but those weren't of his concern it that happened. If it was too weak the rewards wouldn't be too big so exposing his strength and ability wouldn't be worth it, so he'd just run from the place.

It wasn't that big of a deal if he killed a weak boss, but how did he find it? Even teachers couldn't locate it, otherwise they would've been here... They'd get a reward from killing it and a special thanks for the principle! Is that not great!? So, either they were too weak to locate it or something didn't allow them to go here yet. Maybe there were too much goblins and they had to fight them off?.. Well, whatever it was - Kerren didn't care, he got here first after all.

Soon after the coccoon bloomed, revealing a big figure inside of it. At first, Kerren didn't understand what this thing was, it was a grotesque mass of slimy muscles that just looked... wrong to him. He was somewhat scared because he couldn't identify the monster, but as time went by it started taking a proper form. Why didn't he attack it immediately? He didn't want to anger it in case it wasn't something he could beat, running away would be a problem then> Even if he found help afterwards it would still choose to attack him first unless it had no choice but to defend.

20 seconds later the monster was finally starting to look like something Kerren knew about, but... It didn't make sense for this thing to be here! It was a giant sheep! Of course, right now it was bald as it's body didn't have time to grow anything... Anyway, the problem with the sheep was that it wasn't an agressive monster! Those could be seen inside dungeons that had plains terrain and abundance of mana! Some people even took them from those dungeons to breed, so why did they summon it?

He hesitated. First of all, their wool was somewhat expensive, one batch could be shaved off each month, it was around 2 kilograms of C crystals, those that were considered A crystals now, so... Right now it would be around 3 to 4 thousand stones per batch? It was too big of a deal for him to kill it recklessly, if it was a normal sheep he could sell it and get a lot of crystals immediately! But what if it wasn't?.. He wasn't stupid enough to think it'll be that easy, moreover, it was still a boss! Killing it at any time will grant one a reward!

As the sheep "formed" he observed it carefully, if it showed any signs of not being normal - he'd kill it immediately. He already places two mana bomb near it, so he could do so anytime if he wished, that wasn't a problem at all.

Sadly, as he observed it he found out that it wasn't a normal sheep. When the sheep was almost "ready" it started emitting demonic energy, meaning that it was corrupted by it. Of course, demonic energy wasn't even a thing, it's just that people used that term to describe characteristics of dark arts. If someone was stupid enough they'd think that anything that had dark-red or dark-purple color was demonic, but, in fact, a lot of magic that that color! It was a characteristic of some high-leveled spells.

A little about demonic energy and why i said it wasn't even a thing. Some arts and spells used parts of user's being as a material to strengthen themself. If one used it - they would some "health" that they had, normally, it'll just make them feel a bit worse for a period of time and that's all, but the art or a spell was stronger by at least 10%! Of course, there were things that could take away more from it's user... Those weren't exactly forbidden, but they were rarely used as they could deal serious damage to one's health if used a lot.

Oh, there were also spells and arts that used parts of user's soul. They are... Well, they're not good, okay? Your soul is your most precious thing you'll ever have, wasting it to make spells stronger? What a joke that was! Moreover, the soul couldn't regenerate like your body did! If it's damaged - it will remain like that until you fixed it yourself! There were many method but 99% of them were insanely slow, thus, only madmen would use those things!

Of course, both of those that i described above had a similiar characteristic in them - they had the same color that would ooze out of your body once used! IT didn't happen with mana if one didn't wish for so, it was completely invisible unlike that thing, thus, whoever used those spells or arts would insantly be spotted by others, possibly making him their target.

But a questions still lingers - was it really demonic? Absolutely not. How could a spell be demonic? Of course, some were made to destroy worlds or, lets say, make a hundred of generations of people look bad or be stupid, but... Did they appear on their own or something?... Nope, they were made by people, be it elves, gnomes or humans, all races had their own evil that they had to fight. If used correctly those spells were good, if used wrong - bad. So, who was bad? The spell itself or its user? None.

You dont agree? Why? For example, those shamans that Kerren just killed. Did they want to be killed? No. Did they do something wrong so they deserved to be killed? Well, they did a lot of "bad" things, but to Kerren? They didn't, he still killed them without thinking twice about it. Was Kerren bad? No! Technically, he protected those around him by doing so! If they summoned the things a lot of people would've died! But... From the perspective of those shamans he indeed was bad... So... What do have in the end?

We have that good and bad were just things that didn't really exist. Things that were alive did something for profit. Shamans summoned the sheep to earn contribution and riches, to get a better life! Kerren did the same, were they both bad or were they both good? They were alive. That's what life is. None are good, none are bad, it's a matter of perspective.

Anyway, when i was explaining you that... Uh.. Kerren already killed the sheep. He did so when i was talking about demonic energy and what it really was, i didn't really want to stop... Uh... i already told you that he placed bombs near it, right? So, it's obvious how he did that?.. Of course, if it was possible he'd like to get it's body, but... It wouldn't sell for that much, so he dicided not to bother, it was easier just bombing it to death.

Well, now that i look at it... Kerren likes to use bombs, doesn't he? Mana crystals bombs, normal mana bombs... Maybe that is simply easier to him, but if it's not? Does he have a kink towards explosions or something?... Whatever it is - it doesn't really matter that much, does it?

A panel from the system was infront of Kerrens face, it listed his rewards for the highest but not the only contribution towards killing the boss. It turns out it did count those goblins that were running around the university on wolves... Well, he still got 98% of the contribution towards killing the boss, thus earning 98% of the total reward for it.

I wont even explain what it was because most of it Kerren will just sell, as it wasn't useful to him, it was mostly armor, weaponry or some herbs, he could, of course, hoard the latter if he ever chose to learn alchemy, but by the time he did so those would be too low-leveled for him, but could still be used for practice... He thought about it but didn't spend too much time doing so.

The most important thing that he got from it was a potion that increased one's mana pool and ability to control mana, it made the body more adapted to using it. It was expensive on the market and couldn't be bought with crystals normally, people would barter it. However, it wasn't all-powerful, it wasn't even high-ranked, middle-rank potion at best. Thus, Kerren immediately drank it as soon as he understood what it was.

The next good thing was a coin that i already told you about, it too was of middle rank, which was somewhat strange... As soon as Kerren saw that it gave him two things that were middle-ranked he understood that this eruption was of rank A! If he didn't run towards the summoning circle and killed the shamans before they summoned it - many people would've died! It was a C rank boss after all! Well, A rank by "today's" standards, but still. Oh, and also, those "middle-ranked" things that he got were actually high-ranked by today's standards, okay? Good.

Anyway, he used the coin aswell, wishing for a better mana-pool. It was a lot weaker than he potion he just drank, but you could only drink two or three of such rank before it stopped being effective. Those coins, however? He could use around 50 more! Of course, each would do less and less, but it still gave him a lot! His actual power didn't increase by a lot, i'd even say it almost didn't. He simply improved his body so it could store more mana and use it easier.

Overall, the reward didn't dissapoint Kerren but didn't make him happy either. Increasing his mana pool was good, but if he got a skill instead? That would've been better! Still, it was better than getting some useless artefact or something like that. Soon, he inspected all he got and frowned. It wasn't much at all! At best, he could sell it for 50 kilograms of C rank crystals! It wasn't even a thing! Those were of Kerren's previous life, of course, so it was still a lot today. Still, it wasn't much! Normally one would get an equivalent of 100 kilograms of crystals for clearing it alone!

An equivalent? Let me explain. Total reward from a dungeon was around 100 kilograms of crystals. If it was a C rank dungeon - it should be around 100 kilograms of C rank crystals, not in crystals, of course, in items of equivalent worth! Well, it's not like you couldn't get your reward in those, it's just that it was somewhat rare. They were among the rewards, but usually it wasn't all that much, most of them were mined, after all.

Was 100 kilograms a lot? Well, it was, but if it was split among 50 or so people that participated?.. Well, at best one will profit around a kilogram or two for raiding a dungeon of their level. It was a good sum of crystals, but still, it wasn't that much. Raiding lower level dungeons, however, could give you up to 20 kilograms of those! Well, if you did that alone... For most it was impossible, two ranks lower was, but one? Nah.

Did you notice me speaking a lot again? That's because Kerren wasn't rushing back to his room! He leisurely walked though the forest, enjoying the view! What do you want me to talk about!? Trees!? Grass!? There's nothing going on!

...

As he got closer to the dorms he noticed that there weren't any fights going on anymore. It's not like he cared, he wont participate in them if there were any, but he wondered how it ended so fast. Maybe it was the girl who exaggerated the situation so he'd be moved and try to help? Who knows, Kerren didn't care either way. He simply walked back to his room, not even bothering to look around him.

When he was getting closer he noticed that someone was inside of it. It wasn't the girl, it was the principle who waited for him! He pretended not to know, why would he know? Can he see through walls? Did he have some kind of a great investigative ability? Nope, he was just a normal student that knew a bit more than teachers and could dodge well... Which was already strange enough...

Which was strange, that before he could get to his room - the principle disappeared... Why? Did she do something, or did she not notice that he was going back already?.. Or maybe she did, and that was the reason she ran?.. Whatever it was Kerren didn't have enough information to think about it, thus, he simply walked back and started fixing the door with magic, he took pieces of it that were lying around and mended it using a spell and some scrap metal he "borrowed" from the bodies of goblins or students that were outside.

Spell itself wasn't that big of a deal, it was called "Ice-hot metal" allowing one to melt a metal. Was that all? Nope, it was as cold as one wanted it to be, to an extent, of course, and would have any solidity spellcaster wanted! It was great for fixing things and was used a lot by common people! Fixing a door with it wasn't hard and it added a certain pattern to his new door, making it look badass!

After fixing and placing the door back he started cleaning his room after a certain girl barged in. Of course, that wasn't his true goal, cleaning up the room was one thing, but finding whatever the principal did was may more important. Well, that is if she even did anything. He cleaned painstakingly, seemingly trying to remove every piece of dust! You already know the reasoning behind it.

When he finally stopped doing so - his room was squeaky clean! One wouldn't say that it was all dirty 20 minutes ago! As for whatever the principal did? Kerren didn't find anything at all. She either hid it really well or didn't do anything at all and was just visiting his place for whatever reason. Well, if she did hide anything he didn't have enough skill to find it, thus he didn't worry that much, but would still spend less time here and wont do anything important.

For example, from now on he will be reading the book in the forest, what if the principal didn't know about it? Would she try to steal it? It was too expensive after all... He was still to weak to protect it! So, his only choice was to hide it! He already made a plan, if people ever asked him why was he spending so much time in the forest he'd simply say that he's here in case another eruption happened.

-* Oh, right! The eruption! -- he suddenly thought. -- The hell was that? How and why did it start? I guess i'll have to go ask to not be suspicious... Maybe nobody knows i already killed the boss? -- he hoped for it, at least.

Actually, not a single soul knew he was the one who killed him. They thought a random teacher or an awakened has gone to claim the reward for themself, they didn't even ask around since if the person could solo-kill the boss they weren't to be messed with. If only they knew Kerren didn't even fight it properly and claimed the reward alone!