Bound by Fate

"System, do you have any advice?"

Right now, the only person who could help him was the system, and if he couldn't trust it, he would stay on this path without becoming a demon king.

[Yes...]

[I can advise you to take animals to increase your mana and not demons or humans. After that, you could look for a host that would be useful for you to use your full potential.]

 ***

"Could I change rank?"

[No.]

[As a parasite, it will be impossible for you to change rank. But if you bond with a host, you will be able to move up in rank.]

[Don't forget to level up because you have become a pretender, and the other pretenders are ready to kill.]

Ethan had completely forgotten that he had become a pretender.

"But… what happens if I refuse?"

[You can't. Your soul is already bound to the throne.]

"But how can I take possession of another body?"

[You can free yourself by vomiting. If you want to bind yourself, you must ask me to bind you to his body.]

"Okay."

After 2 hours, Ethan assimilated the phoenix ability. He gained the ability to turn his entire body into fire, but the problem was that this ability consumed too much mana.

During his flight, he noticed a wild boar. He decided to test the system's speech and left the body of the phoenix in mid-flight, through its beak. He plummeted until he landed on the boar's back.

He began to slide closer to the boar's nose. The boar noticed the small parasite crawling on its nose and began to panic.

It moved in all directions. Ethan had difficulty penetrating the animal, but luckily, he managed to enter through its nose.

He regained consciousness in the boar's body, but he was tired.

"... hmf .,.. h.f.,. ,..,. .,... hmf ..,."

Ethan was breathing heavily like a pig because he was out of breath. Entering the creature had taken all of his energy.

"...hmf.,.. System, show me my core."

[Okay, here are your stats and how long it will take you to learn the boar's stats.]

The system showed him his statistics:

[Force: 2]

[Agility: 30]

[Mana: 2 (40)]

[Defense: 13]

[Time to copy the boar's skills: 20 minutes]

He began to assimilate various creatures to broaden his horizons. He soared through the forest skies with the wings of an eagle, dove into the depths of the lakes like a fish, and roamed the lands like wolves and hawks. Each new form offered him a unique view of the world and allowed him to learn specific skills.

He acquired several abilities and enlarged his mana core. He was in his parasite form.

[Agility: 119]

[Mana: 2 (192)]

[Defense: 123]

"Next step, I would have to find a city where I could take possession of a human body."

"System, use the territory marker ability to find a village."

[All right...]

Ethan's vision changed as if he was scanning the territory. Suddenly, a crow approached Ethan, and he ingested it. Ethan took possession of the crow.

"Ah... that's what I was missing, an animal that can fly."

After taking possession of the crow, it began to fly. After several hours, he spotted the lights of a human village in the distance. Intrigued by the idea of seeing beings of his species again, he accelerated his flight. The lights of the human village grew closer as he streaked through the skies, his raven wings beating silently.

As he approached the village, he noticed the details of the night landscape. The cob houses emitted a soft glow, illuminating the cobbled streets. The inhabitants seemed peacefully asleep. Suddenly, a powerful aura blurred the territory marker ability, and Ethan's head seemed to explode.

"A... A... AAAAAAAAH! MY HEAD!!!"

"System, what is this?"

[It is a blessed being who destroyed its mana core, releasing its energy which poisons and affects demons that approach the village with the worst pain imaginable.]

"How could I stop this pain?"

[The only way out is to neutralize the broken core.]

"BUT HOW DO I FIND THIS CORE?"

[Look for.]

He began to look for the blessed being who could relieve him of these pains. With difficulty flying due to his aching head, he began searching the village. He flew around the children, but did not feel the presence of the blessed one. Until his raven eyes landed on a small house on the outskirts of the village. When approaching this house, the mana became stronger.

Inside, he felt the presence of a sick child, weakened by fever (caused by the core). The shadows in the room danced faintly, and he made out the frail figure of a boy lying in bed.

The crow spat out the body of the parasite. Ethan walked slowly into the child's room. He had some difficulty climbing onto the bed. Ethan entered through the child's mouth. The first moments were disorienting. The change in perspective, the sensation of reduced limbs required rapid adaptation.

"System, open statistics."

[Force: *?%@&!]

[Agility: *#@$%]

[Mana: 2(!$&*#@)]

[Defense: #$?%¨^]

"What is going on?"

[Your statistics were encrypted after entering this young man's body.]