You smell as much as compressed demon juice

Two weeks later he had already eaten and sold all the demons. As him demon expenditure was getting higher recently, he set his eyes on a big target this time. Centi liao's 6km large fairy forest, his biggest target yet. The security is top notch and getting in without being seen wouldn't be an easy task. His net for catching demons, his gloves and jars were jammed into his big backpack as he had it on his lap, sitting in a bus. Centi liao is pretty far from his house but he betted it was completely worth it. That fairy forest's core was big like a shopping mart from what his sources told him, and when the core is big there's more demons. Well, it also brings more dangerous creatures but he could just rip them apart.

Jin maki was standing behind a tree, near centi liao's fairy forest. He wasn't worried about this plan, in fact, he felt confident. So far, the guards had never caught him, not even able to identify who he was. He was fast, strong and had a good sense of faura. All this made him a bit arrogant, although the only demon eaters he ever met were low grade guards. The fairy forest's faura was very dense, making him unable to see too deep in the forest. When the guards were finally far enough, he rushed inside the hole filled rock formation. The walls were covered by pink pearl like crystals and neon green moss grew here and there. The place was silent if you ignored a low humming sound and some random chirping noise made by the beasts. During the first hundred meters, Jin Maki only crossed paths with small rat like creatures and dead ends. The many tunnels had the bad tendency of suddenly turning to right, left, upwards and downwards. Big fairy forests were maze like dungeons with the big jackpot at its core. Sometimes, the paths became too small for someone to walk or even crawl in it. On the other hand, sometimes the paths became one to make a big gallery or cave. The fairy forests truly were dangerous, though Jin wasn't quite aware of it yet. After a good while, his faura sense was completely overwhelmed, he was now blind. He felt quite uneasy as he couldn't sense enemies coming and might get lost. Though, he had developed a good sense of orientation and could always vaguely tell where he was. He had traveled about two thirds to where the core was. As he took yet another turn, Jin sweared to himself. About two metres away from him was sleeping a wolf sized raccoon looking beast with two curly horns. It's paws were a bit lion like and had a massive mouth. It was his first time seeing such a big one. He slowly turned away without a sound. As sad as it was, he couldn't continue that way and had to go back on his steps, after all he wasn't confident in safely defeating that thing. As he was quietly walking away, he heard a clicking noise behind him. Before he could turn around, which he could do extremely quickly, he felt sharp fangs bite his leg. Without minding the pain, he rapidly kicked forward his bitten leg, throwing the beast off balance and making it fall. The raccoon like thing made a hick sound as Jin violently smashed its head on the ground. In a flash, he took out a 30 centimeters long metal stick and shoved it in the thing's eye socket. It didn't even have the time to scream before it died. Jin sighed, that bastard just had to bite him there! Now he would have to wear long pants for a while. He sat down and bandaged his leg before looking at the corpse. Since he was accustomed to killing those creatures, he didn't feel guilty at all. It's not like he killed a human toddler, although the creature probably had a similar level of intelligence. He sneezed and happily got back on his feet. Though he couldn't bring back the body to sell it, the path was now free. The ground was somewhat easy to walk on so he was advancing quickly, in the right direction too. In a good mood, he saw a rat like creature running by. He threw a powerful kick at it and sent it crashing against a wall. A slight cracking sound was heard when it hit the wall and it fell down to the ground, lifeless. Jin laughed with a smirk while saying in his head "and that's 74!"

Because he effectively killed 74 of these little creatures today. About two years ago he had started this little game of how much of them he could kill during a "demon hunt". Since he didn't know how they were called, he named them point pests. His actual score was of 124, but he was sure he would beat it today. As he traveled, he caught countless demons, killed a bunch of cat sized beasts and fought another weird raccoon thingy. Jin Maki could feel the pressure emitted by the core, he was getting close. He walked slower as there would probably be guards. Suddenly, a worrying silence reigned and Jin couldn't hear the little critters run around anymore. Suddenly feeling oppressed, Jin stopped in his tracks.

A bead of sweat rolled down his neck and then he felt someone's hand on his shoulder. He froze, terrified by the presence less person. A deep but groggy voice said behind him

"kid, how come no one caught you for the past seven years? Those guys must've lost their senses, not being able to catch you, who smells as much as compressed demon juice."

Jin didn't say a word, nor try to escape from the stranger's grasp.

The man put shackles on the helpless Jin, who had somehow lost all his force and he felt nauseous. He patted his shoulder and said

"You really are unlucky my boy. You wouldn't be in so much trouble if only someone had stopped you earlier."

Jin gulped. Just how much trouble exactly?

He would definitely go to prison, for an unknown amount of time. How would he face his parents now? Lying to them for so long... He really had been a fool.

As he started panicking in his mind, he suddenly felt dizzy. The stranger's deep voice said in a resigned way

"the guy issuing the mission really was right, you are a lost cause. I only slightly disrupted you faura and you already have a hard time standing up. Come on, let's go."

He then put him over his shoulder, as if he was as light as a chicken. Jin was amazed when the guy started sprinting, easily finding his way out. It seemed the intense faura emitted by the fairy Forest didn't make him blind at all. Not even ten minutes later they were out and he was handed over to a van heading to somewhere. He was astonished. How was that guy able to do all that ?

What Jin Maki didn't know was that the stranger wasn't actually part of the strongest demon eaters, far from that.

About an hour later he was put in a temporary cell, inside the so called demon eaters control department. Jin sighed and dropped himself on a mediocre bench. He could tell there was a bunch of other demon eaters in the building, escaping was out of the question. He closed his eyes, waiting for something to happen. A while later a tall woman was added to the cell, she also wore shackles.

The woman gave him a disdainful look and asked him

"Who are you? A student ?"

Jin shacked his head and lazily answered

"No."

And closed his eyes. The woman tapped the ground rhythmically with her foot and then asked again

"Who are you? You give off messy faura, it's annoying."

Jin hesitated before saying in a breath

"self-thaught demon dealer."

The woman thought about the answer for a moment and then stopped bothering him, seemingly satisfied.

He was getting seriously tired of waiting. Just how long did they plan on making him wait? Jin changed to a more comfortable position while sighing. He would probably never get back the things they confiscated.

Not long after, a guard finally called him out and guided him to a room where a man with a powerful aura was sitting at a small table. The man signed him to sit down. After Jin was seated, the man started

"Hi, can you tell me your name?"

Jin answered on a neutral tone

"My name is Jin Maki, sir."

The stranger noted it down and continued

"Jin Maki, you are aware of the fact that unauthorized demon selling is illegal, yet you have been doing so for the last four years. Normally, we would give you a sentence of thirty years in prison, but I've made an exception for you."

Jin was greatly surprised by this. He insistently looked at the man.

"You see, I'm the director of a demon eater University, the one called doomsday. For the last few years, we didn't get any exceptional students and the higher ups decided to lower our allowance. You have a rare constitution that if left alone could kill you. But, if a knowledgeable demon eater, me for exemple, would teach you the demon arts accordingly, you would become an exceptional demon eater. What I'm suggesting you is, instead of going to prison, go to my university and graduate there. If you accept you won't get any criminal records and no body would be informed of what you did for the past years, including your parents. What do you say?"

Jin's mouth was agape. Was there even the need to ask? Of course he would choose the university! Instead of knowing what their son did in secret, they would be told he got enrolled in a university, a demon eater University at that. Getting in was very hard if your family wasn't already specialized in demon eaters and didn't have the right connections. Although the job was dangerous, demon eaters had high prestige. If this offer wasn't a miracle, he didn't know what it was. He wasn't sure if this was legal though. Jin responded on a shy tone

"I would be glad to accept this offer but... Isn't that against the law?"

The director gave him a cold look and retorted

"I doubt you're in the right place to ask me if it's illegal."

He stayed silent, that man was right.

" Now, fill these inscription papers. We'll head to the campus afterwards, you'll live there. The school year will start in a month and a half."

Jin was filling the paper's when he remembered something. He said

"Uhm... Sir? What about the demons I caught today?"

The man looked at him, stunned. Did that kid really think he could get them back ?

"They will be put back in the fairy forest, of course."

Jin nearly clicked his tongue. He had put so much efforts in catching them and now they would simply be released. Where was he going to get his daily four demons now ? Thinking about this question made him uneasy. The university wouldn't just let him starve to death, right?

"Fifth block room four."

Jin received the keys from the teacher and headed to his room. While walking, he sighed. The university's ground was unnecessarily big! If someone didn't really pay attention, they would mistake it for a commercial district. The main building was big like eight rugby fields. You could see multiple gymnasiums and weird outdoors parcours. Since school would only start in a month and a half, he didn't see much people. When he did come across someone, it would be an adult and they would stare at him weirdly. Jin didn't pay it attention since he understood that he looked like a punk. He had shaved hair and an eyebrow piercing, that paired with his naturally mean looking face made him look like a trouble maker, which wasn't completely false. While heading to his room, he tried sensing the demon eaters on campus and he surprisingly could only feel a bunch of guard level people. There wasn't a lot a demon eater University so they tended to have lots of students. Doomsday, his current university, was in rising moon City, about five hours away from blue rock city. Jin felt bad about not saying good bye to his family, but oh well, what could be done? He was already extremely lucky as is, he was in no position to ask for more. Jin just hoped his little brother, Chen Maki, would keep his mouth shut about the business he had been doing. Without him there to bribe him into silence, who knows what that evil being would do. He shook his head at this thought and stopped at the door of his "block" which looked like a luxury family house. He unlocked the door and stepped inside. On the first floor, a spacious lounge, a kitchen and a dining room were all connected. The place had elegant furniture and decorations. Not spending too much time on admiring, he directly headed to the stairs leading to the second floor. A corridor with four doors, two on each side of the wall. When he saw the rooms, he wondered if maybe one of them would belong to a girl... Most probably not. He closed the door of his room behind him and smiled. A desk, a comfy looking bed, a wardrobe and a small bathroom with a closed shower. After finding a soap bar and a bottle of shampoo under the sink, he directly took a shower. There was one advantage to having a shaved head: you didn't need a lot of shampoo. That wasn't the only reason Jin had shaved hair. He had that haircut for as long as he could remember. The actual reason was because he simply couldn't stand the sensation of having long hair, it felt suffocating. After his shower he wrapped a towel around his waist and went back to his room. He found out the school's uniform was quite plain. Black shirts and pants, as plain as it could get. The pajamas were gray and soft. He'd be stuck here doing nothing for a month and a half, huh? Jin felt hungry so he dressed up and went to the kitchen. He was a bit disappointed when he saw there was no food, were was he supposed to eat then? He walked out the house and started wandering around the campus, looking for someone to guide him. While he was walking, someone called out to him

"Ah! Jin Maki! There you are."

He turned around to see a bright faced man. Jin slowed down to let him catch up.

"Hi, my name Is Kyo Wan. I was supposed to go look for you at your block but I saw you walking so here I am. I need to show you the canteen and give you some informations. This way."

The man started walking to the canteen and Jin followed him.

"The meals are free and you can find cooking ingredients there too. So, you'll start as a second year here. During the month and a half before the year, I'll help you catchup on the general knowledge you missed. As for the combat technique, last year was about the basics which you already know. You will come meet me at 8am in the canteen so I give you instructions and books. Any questions?"

Kyo turned to Jin at the last part. He instantly asked him

"Yes. Where should I get demons to eat?"

The teacher frowned while looking at him. He shook his head while sighing and said

"Right, your special conditions. First of all, you can only get one per day at the canteen."

Jin flinched. Were they crazy ? Only one per day! He didn't expect the school to give him four a day but at least let him get himself his daily demons at a forest or whatever. Jin felt a headache coming.

"Also, we need to do something about your demon consumption problem. Right now, you are what we commonly call a demon addict. You're not aware of it, but this is very dangerous for your health. Right now, your body's at its limits. Your body can't handle the faura overload you inflict yourself everyday. It's already started affecting your senses and dulled them, next your physical abilities will deteriorate until you're completely crippled! Luckily, you're not at a stage of no return yet. Though, stopping your demon addiction will be long and painful. For now, can you tell me how many demon you eat on a regular basis and when you started ?"

The blood drained from Jin's Face. He already knew he had a problem, but this was way worse then he originally thought! Crippled! And stopping it was going to be painful ? Jin was accustomed to flesh wound's pain, but the slightest stomachache or cramp could take him was to the floor. Obviously, the process wouldn't make his skin crack open or something similar, so he was very anxious about this.

Jin answered absentmindedly to the previous question

"I eat four a day. I started when I was nine... Though I only ate one a day back then. Also, I have a hard time sleeping when the faura concentration is too low, is there anything I can do about it? I mean, I don't think I'm allowed to keep a bunch of demons in my room."

When he heard this, kyo nearly choked. What kind of miracle was it for this kid to be alive? They could eat two or three a day, but not four! Not on a daily basis! At least, not unless you are high graded. And how could a nine years old kid even get his hands on demons? Also, being able to not drown even in a high concentration of faura every night... This was going to be harder then he expected. He sensed the kid again. Jin Maki had obviously no control on his faura emissions. The faura was compressed in his every particles and wild faura continuously seeped from him. He understood why the director wanted him as a student as he had incredible potential, but that very diamond was surrounded by a mine field. There was his dangerous addiction and he obviously lacked discipline ... There was also that troublesome appearance. Even himself was having a hard time being relaxed around him. It wouldn't be a problem with the other students, but some teachers would inevitably give him trouble. He took a deep breath and said to Jin

"You'll have to sleep without demons or anything alike in your room."

He smirked and added

"though your presence alone should be enough to make the faura concentration go up. Here, we've arrived."

They entered the nearly empty cafeteria, took their meal and Kyo said goodbye to him, saying he was going to eat in the teacher's room. Sadly, Jin wasn't so easily deceived. Even if Kyo did his best to act friendly, he could tell he was uneasy. The place was empty safe for the three adults drinking together at a Table. It was quite probable that Kyo just didn't want to be near him anymore. The three teachers watching him anxiously only made him feel more annoyed. He quickly finished eating and went back to his room. He didn't feel coming here was such a miracle anymore. Did he look that scary? He should probably remove his piercing.