9 oh the splats..

After washing the young cub in a nearby river, Karma became sleepy, and not even the fucked-up situation I was in could wake him up.

*boom*

"Fuck"

While I was walking back to the village, I became a target to some condors, that could spew fucking fire!

If there was one or two, there wouldn't be a problem. I would be able to easily dodge their fireballs and attempts to get some barbeque. Now though, more than 10 of fire-spewing, flying and ugly Black-Gold demon beasts were coming after me. Carrying a young wolf, and having one of your arms effectively useless, also didn't help.

I guess I overhunted the beasts, so the bosses came out to check on things.

I ran around a boulder just as a fireball was going to splash me, effectively getting a breather. Now then, it's clobbering time.

*quack*

*splat*

Well, it's more like 'throwing-huge-rocks-at-them' time. Okay, terrible puns aside, eleven left.

I tucked Karna behind my shirt so that I could use both of my hands to throw the boulders.

Sadly, when you use a boulder, that you were hiding behind, as a ball, you inevitably lose the protection it provided.

So I ran. Ran as fast as I could. But the freaking condors didn't let up and continued to pursue me, while once in a while puffing out some fire.

Of course, I knew I can't lead them back to the village, as they will definitely try to feast on the villagers. What to do, what to do?

Ahh, I got it.

'System, purchase a piercing projectile…no wait nevermind.'- I started to ask for a technique, but then I realised I have [Spirit Force Materialization]. So I quickly materialised or more precisely tried to, some spears, as anything less wouldn't be lethal.

*zoom*

I think I became a Jedi. Fuck yeah!

Okay, enough of the otaku moments. I hefted the straight and very sharp stick and turned around while jumping. Ready, aim, FIRE!

*quack*

*splat*

Imagine a dragon headed their way.

The spear left only a trail of blue in the sky, and the next moment one of the leading condors plummeted to the ground, spat-ing all over the place. While the ten remaining condors were panicking, I ran up to the corpse and extracted the Demon Spirit.

All of that happened in less than two seconds. Good thing I became proficient with the extracting technique after using it for so much.

[+732 SP]

Holy shit! It must have been the leader of the group. But if the rest of them could give at least 500 each…muahahahah.

And if you're wondering how could I kill such a strong beast so quickly? Well, one: The condors have low defence. Two: I seriously doubt the [Spirit Force Materialization] is a low-end technique despite the relatively low price. Third: as it was said earlier, I directly use the energy in my soul, and not the unpurified Soul Force, meaning the technique is even more powerful, plus, I did after all overload it with additional energy.

After witnessing the strength and effectiveness off the technique, I started throwing spear after spear at them. The condors panicked, and in their panic couldn't effectively resist or escape. After all, they were overlords of this place for some time, so they must have been unused to danger and the chance of death. Well, it's only better for me like that.

It didn't take much time to kill all of them and collect their Demon Spirits. Like this, I managed to get a nice bonus, almost as big as the amount I earned with the whole hunting trip, namely around 4000 SP.

'How much?'

[23520]

Nice. Nearly half I think.

After getting rid of the groupies, I jogged back to the village, unable to wait for a nice hot bath.

Sadly there isn't one in the house that Yun Ling lives and sells congee. And so there's almost no chance of the cliche where one of us sees the other naked. Sigh, sad.

Anyways, I found the bathhouse and entered.

There was a receptionist, I guess, guarding the door and collecting the payment for the use of facilities.

"Hello.."

Although the girl was nice looking, I'm not going to flirt with every nice looking girl I meet.

"..how much for an entry?"-I asked.

" 200 grams of rice or 100 grams of meat. We also accept purple stones. 20 of those."- the girl simply answered.

Hmm, they accept the purple stones as payment?

"Here, 200 of rice, sorry, I couldn't help but ask, how come you accept purple smokes stones? The last time I remember, they were worthless."-I inquired as I stealthily withdrew a pack of rice.

" oh, well, the expert from outer lands apparently trades the purple stones for food, at least I heard of it like that, I haven't been there in the trading hour."- she said."Additionally, the mayor and other branches officials declared that from now on all purple smoke stones used in transactions will be claimed by the chief."-She said dejectedly. It seems she couldn't get a piece of the pie that the chief is sharing, as all stones would go to him.

"Hmmm, interesting. Anyway, thank you."- I thanked her and entered the baths.

As the baths were public, there was all kind of people, but I just found a nice, out of view corner.

The little wolf, Karna, was also allowed to come, as the people probably thought I'm just some kid with his doggy here. It seems like even pets are allowed, as long as they don't make trouble.

I didn't linger there for long, as I didn't want to get into some kind of cliche situation, so I left and came back to the congee shop.

It was already closed as the shadows were long. I entered through the back door and walked to the kitchen. There was Yun Ling, preparing things for tomorrow, such as getting the dust mass, which everyone here used instead of rice, into the pots to let them brink for the night, I assume.

"Hey Ling-chan"- I greeted her, not wanting to scare the crap out of her.

" Ah, Edo! You came back. I already thought that you wouldn't come.."-she said with a smile.

"Now why would I do that. After all, there is only one Ling-chan in the whole village."- I teased with a smile.

" oh stop it. So, I was just finishing with congee, and as you finally came back, I wanted to ask if we could..you know…do that thing.."-she said while averting her eyes.

Wait. Is she implying…nooo..that can't be..right? And she obviously saw my dumbfounded expression, because she started laughing. And loudly at that.

"Did..did you just…?"- I asked, fearing the answer.

" hahaha, oh it's so fun to tease you, hahaha. You always tease me, so, tell me, how does it feel? Haha"-she continued to laugh while getting a word or two every few seconds.

She…fooled me.

NOOO! My manly image…it's ruined!

"Oh, you little twerp.."-I said as I started to tickle her.

After we both calmed down, she asked for a pizza, and I happily complied. Of course, she noticed the magical way that I got the food, but she didn't ask about it, which I'm grateful for, and even more sure that she's a good person.

Eventually, she noticed the little wolf when I gave him some milk to drink, as he was still just a cub.

" E-Edo, w-what's that?"-She asked with sparkling eyes. Karna immediately perked up like he just got a premonition of a calamity.

"Oh, yeah, I forgot to introduce him. This is Karna, my pet, and later, hopefully, a companion. I found him in one of my hunting trips, and I thought I couldn't just leave him in a forest full of beasts."- I said as I ruffled the fur on his head.

" H-He's so cute! Can I touch him, can I?"-She asked me like a small girl.

Noticing my strange reaction, she ahem-ed and calmed down-"well, you see, I never had any pet. So I was…I was just excited…that's all…"-she said, while at the end started to drool as Karma tried to scratch his ear, only to fall on his back. Damn, he's truly adorable.

"Sure, you can touch him. Just make sure to not…torture him."-I said. Karma hearing my words gave me a look of betrayal, fully knowing what will be coming to him.

Ling-chan immediately picked him up and ran to her chamber. I guess…I won't see him until morning…I hope.

I sighed and started cleaning up the dishes. There wasn't much, just knives and other things one would need when eating a pizza.

After taking care of that, I walked to my bed and just plopped down on in, too tired to sleep normally.

I guess hunting all day and then being chased by huge birds takes a lot out of me. Plus, I suspect that the spears of energy I was throwing out also didn't help with the exhaustion.

'Oh yeah, hey system, are there any demon spirits I could buy from the shop?'

[Yes, there is. But there are only the Demon Spirits that you have turned in for points. Every new kind of Demon spirit will be added to the available selection when you turn in it. Additionally, as the system uses only blueprints to create them, as I don't have a magical supply of resources, but use points, every demon spirit purchased will cost double than what it would give when turned in. On the other hand, I improve every blueprint to the limit cor maximum benefit, so every purchased Demon Spirit will have the so-called god-level growth]

'Huh, neat…goodnight system.'

[…]

[Goodnight]