Chapter 13 Bittersweet Spoils

Chapter 13 Bittersweet Spoils 

As me and Icy made the way out of the forest, we came across quite a few, lv 10 -14 mobs trying to kill us. Two giant blood bees, a Gnolls, and an LV 15 Trent, pocketing all their hearts and cores, we kept going through the forest, but I ensured we went a long way. I still have at most three days left for my quest, and I wanted to get as many bonus rewards as possible if my body could handle it all.

"So what will we do when we get back to your place, Blaze..?" Icy said with a hint of worry. I guess she thought I'd still do off with her or turn her in for a bounty.

"Simply get to know each other's faults and strengths. I was out here to prepare for the guild tournament, and my guild master would only let me go to a higher-level place if I could complete a quest he gave me, which my system acknowledges as an actual quest. That's why you got attached to me," I stated matter-of-factly.

I left out the luck stat boost, as it seems like it wasn't obvious. They got buffed, or more so, it feels natural, then shows as a notification....odd. As we got closer, I got to level 6. I held back from eating any more hearts or the cores. I knew she'd ask why if she saw me, but I had no way of making sure she couldn't tell anyone anything I didn't want her to say. Complete loyalty or not, I had to be smart about the info I'd give her and any other new pack members. There's no way to know if they will be forced to give the information to anyone who forces them to via skill or torture.

~~ User, The system has the ability to make pack members take a soul pledge, which prevents them from disclosing any information that the user wishes to keep confidential. Even if someone tries to use a high-level skill, the soul pledge will force the members to become unconscious rather than leak any sensitive information~~ As the system chimed into my mind with this information, I was surprised by how much it communicated with me.

"so no matter what, only me and they will know?" I said in my head.

~~ yes~~

Stopping, I pulled Icy to me, pulling us both into my storage space, to her surprise, screaming. We were soon in the royal purple landscape, as multiple items were seen organized. "Stop screaming, God woman, we are in my storage," I said with some annoyance.

Surprised, she looked around and soon saw all the bodies we hunted and looted. "S-so, why are we here then? I heard some with more advanced storage skills or items could do this, but this place is smaller than I'd thought. ...So how can we be here?" She asked me as I started looting the bodies to throw out soon, tossing her a knife as she caught it.

"I have a lot to tell you about my system and how it works, " I told her. "But first, please dig out all the hearts, and I'll deal with the cores." She nodded and began doing so as I explained how I could eat these things to increase my stats. I also mentioned that my storage could hold organic or living things and even an actual living being. Surprisingly, she accepted all this information pretty well until she expressed concern about me eating monster cores without refining them to remove any chaotic energy stored inside one. However, my system was unique. I did not need to refine them, at least not now, as these were still lower and basic grades. As my skills grew, it would be easier to eat higher-grade ones.

"So you trust me with all this knowledge as if I won't betray you, haha, that's pretty stupid of ya, you know." She said smugly as she finished harvesting the meat from the Gnolls.

"Hahaha, of course I do. Besides, you can never betray me. Unless I say so, you are forbidden to tell anyone what you see here. You are an absolute loyal member of my pack. If you wanted to or not, I told you. Lycan made this, and he had an absolute rule. Overall, you were kind, and I'm given this privilege to all I turn!~," I said, grinning, breaking what little hope the dark elf had at freedom without me. Her body went slack as she was forced to accept that this was her life, no loopholes, no exploits, just willingly being my member, as she only nodded.

"show me your system. I'm sure you leveled up at least once or twice since we've been in a party, and wait to use your stat points. I'll tell her where to put them," I told her.

"H-huh, why do you get to choose? It's my build!?" she argued. She was right, but with the alpha skill on her, she now had a lot more strength than she used before.

"I've noticed that you're relying too much on your long-range weaponry and benefiting from only half of my strength. That's why we faced some problems when we got into close-range combat. Your whip doesn't seem to be a good fit for you, and using a crossbow alone isn't utilizing your ranger skills fully." She sighed and gestured towards her system to show me.

~~poisonmancer system linked [Upgrade available at the digression of new master ]~~ I hit yes.

Icy Amako

Race: lower dark were-elf

lv 25

job: epic poisonmancer

EXP:438/1589

Gold:300,344

HP:80/80

MP:500/500

Str:5>20

Dex:50

Int:50

Agi:60

Con:15

Stat points: 75

"Well, look at that. You weren't a ranger or at least did not have a ranger system. Poisonmancer, and now an epic one at that. I guess you hit a certain level of skill, and seeing how you are my subordinate, I can force it to upgrade, or maybe it's because it is linked to my system...Either way, put 20 into Con and Str. The rest is up to you. Make sure those two stats are somewhat close to your others. It's too much of a glass cannon for a ranged fighter. That's the worst choice." I said to her.

She kept staring at her new epic system, crying joyfully as this wasn't easy to obtain. My system won't have any of my pack members have a system that isn't epic grade, but the price was also steep. It took the LV 15 Trent core and the two 13 Gnoll hearts as payment to upgrade her. It was a bitter pill to swallow, but it would definitely help me in the long run, so I can't be too upset.

After another five hours, we returned to my guild. Many looked at me and Icy in tatters yet living as I went to snow.

"Hey, beautiful, mind signing up my pack member and taking the remaining 100,000 gold she has to pay for her crimes as a slaver. Oh, and go easy on her. She was a dark elf before becoming a hybrid, thanks~." Laughs, hurrying off before Snow could bitch at me, going to Leo's office to put in the quest clear. I pocketed the remaining 200k Icy had as I was beyond loaded before selling any monster parts and loot. I would need a lot of money for the next step in my plans.

"My my blaze, not only did you complete my quest and grow stronger, but you also brought back an epic class user, no less a high-level one. Slaver or not, this is quite the boon for our guild. So I'll give you an extra reward besides the map to the ruins. As you can see, I have many skill books in my office that many would love to get, and I keep them for those who earn a large amount of merit in the guild, so I'll let you pick one or two depending on the book." Leo said, smiling, spreading his arms out to show the books on the walls.

Moving to the shelves, I began to look them over. So many looked great to have in my collection of skills. Stopping at one section was littered with magic-themed ones, enchanting skills, curses, powerful element abilities, and even defense spells, but I pulled out four books on basic and advanced rune and sigil craft.

"If it is not too much, I'd like these four. I'll even pay the price for the other two guild master, Leo," I said with a bow. I knew I needed to start on a job, and blacksmithing was always my plan, but this would also be even better. With runes and sigils, I could enchant anything and overcome barriers, amongst other things. This was very versatile, besides just weapons and equipment upgrading.

Leo looked at Blaze and then the books, letting out a small chuckle. Not many would choose these skills, even if they had a set that went to master level. One's comprehension mattered greatly, but it seemed like Blaze had conviction and a plan. "Go ahead. Those old books were collecting dust anyway. That and I doubt any would want them despite their rarity" He said as I nodded taking the books and heading out of the room.

What blaze wasn't aware of was Leo looking at his system, smiling wide as he was just more and more impressed finally the true successor of Lycan's soul was on the move, and soon he'd come across the many others who held a part of Lycans soul that was scattered to the winds across space and time. Leo stared at the name of one of his titles, waiting till it was the right time. 

{Holder of Lycans soul fragment}