Chapter XXV: Soul Grinding

[Ancestral Home Found! Would you like to use defensive measures?]

Zack saw the message and felt like he made it to paradise. He could actually feel safe in this whole experience. In the moment, he didn't care about the ancestral home part at all, he barely even saw it. All he liked was defensive measures.

[Yes]

He saw nothing happen. He got scared so he went outside to see nothing outside either. "No! Why!? How!?" Zack said. He felt like nothing was happening. In the moment, he just didn't care now. It seemed like everything that wanted him dead was gone. So he was safe it seemed.

He went inside and saw it was pretty basic. It had basic paintings, a couch, kitchen, and a room with a bed. It actually seemed pretty nice. "I'll stay here for the night. At least until the person who owns it is here" Zack said. He checked his skills to try to get him off the situation.

[Soul Eater]

[Fracture LV. 2]

"These definitely saved me. They actually might have been worth the trade in for my old skills." Zack said. He went over to the bedroom and fell onto the bed. This was the first time Zack felt comfortable in a house. He could finally enjoy himself without this constant surge of uncontrollable hatred, sadness, and pain that would surround him. He instantly fell asleep on the bed after some seconds.

He woke up and walked around. No one was inside at the moment so it was confusing. "This place seemed cared for yet no one is even here? How though?" Zack thought. He went outside and regretted it. He saw more animals outside. More than last night. They all had yellow patches but they just stayed still a few meters away. Zack was scared but interested. Then he recalled last night.

[Would you like to use defensive measures?]

"Hahaha!" Zack laughed. "They can't get me from here!" Zack said while laughing even louder. He went closer after a while to get rid of them. "Hahaha! Ah! Ah! Ah… That was nice you guys but you gotta go!" Zack said this while preparing to use fracture. He used it but it was different. The cuts were deeper, the amount of cuts was larger, and the time between them was faster. "Level two fracture is amazing!" Zack said. They were all dead and the red aura leaked out of Zack's eyes and the orange aura came to him.

[142/10000 taken]

"I could grind these guys until I evolve into whatever's next!" Zack was happy. He could harness whatever vendetta the death class had with him into something to evolve himself. He went to an animal that was in the horde. He picked a snake.

[Error. Soul Eater cannot be used on inanimate things]

"It has to be alive?!" Zack exclaimed. He shrugged it off and left it. He could always wait until more animals come. He went back inside and went to sleep again. The next day he got up and looked outside. There was a lone wolf with white patches rather than yellow patches and lifeless eyes. "You look different. Are you with the death class?" Zack was interested. If he learned anything, don't trust anything with patches on it.

"You will die" the wolf said in a cold, monotone voice. Zack was aback because he saw something out of a cartoon. "You're with the damned death class!" Zack yelled. "What do you even want from me?! I did nothing to you!" Zack wanted answers. Why was this death class this vicious to him? "You killed one of mine. So I need to kill you. A eye for a eye." The wolf said. "But the world goes blind! The wolf attacked me first! What was I to do?! Accept death?!" Zack argued.

"Then you should have died. Or stayed out of my domain. The deal was I wouldn't attack anymore for a home and you intrude?" The wolf said. "Who?" Zack continued to argue. "Hun-" before the wolf finished it started bleeding out. "It seems out time is over. You won't be able to hide behind this witchcraft forever." The wolf said while the voice was shaky. It even started barking in-between words. Eventually it collapsed.

Zack was even more confused. "What deal?", "Who made the deal?", and "Why send all this effort to kill someone like me?" were questions Zack wanted answers to but didn't know how to get. He didn't spend any energy on the matter and slept to the next day again. He knew there was another animal outside and he just didn't want to deal with it. He wanted answers but he wanted to avoid this as much as he could. He stayed in for days. A few weeks. Zack also learned he didn't need food or water as a demon. Perfect for his situation. Zack progressively got bored each day as there was nothing to do.

At some point he was getting tired. "It was gonna happen one day. I couldn't just stay in here forever." He walked outside and saw armies of animals. "Oh no. Free souls though." He cracked his knuckles and used used soul eater on a snake and fracture on everyone.

[1016/10000 taken]

[1/10 of a Cobra's venom]

He felt his teeth go into a coating and get sharper. "You only strengthen me with the souls! You can't kill me!" Zack yelled, hoping the death class heard. The death class heard and felt more enraged than ever. It roared from the woods as a response. Zack continued to mock it and left to go back inside. He actually checked the system to see if there were more perks to this place he had found. He actually gained a home tab from it. *!*

[Defensive Measures ON]

[Offensive Measures OFF]

[Collect Souls]

[Teleport]

"I can teleport here?! Yes! I can even use offensive measures and collect souls from it!" Zack said. He could finally leave without being afraid. He was also worried because he was still quite weak. He then recalled about soul points and decided to boost his attributes.

[Strength: 30]

[Speed: 30]

[Agility: 30]

[929/10000 taken]

[Offensive Measures ON]

"I can sacrifice a few points for evolving into attributes." Zack said. He looked at the door outside and started thinking. "I wanted to be a hero. Not a coward." Zack said. He got up and went outside to the front of the barrier. He was hesitant. His plan was to sneak out so the wolf would keep sending more animals to his home and killing them with offensive measures so he could come back to get the souls. He looked left and right and stepped out for the first time in weeks.

He breathed the fresh air and thought about climbing down the cliff. That could complicate things. He would go around but he would head back into death class territory. He didn't want to alarm the death class. The only way out was to climb. "There is the other way but I don't think my claws aren't sharp enough. Even then it could be risky since I know nothing of how to do it." Zack thought.

If he climbed, it'd take too long to climb down and the death class would find him. If he went around, the death class would find him. The only way was what this one. He readied himself and jumped down. He was scared but dug his claws into the cliff to slow him down. This didn't make much noise and he was down on the ground. He sighed with relief he survived.

"Okay. I've got some new stats, more souls, and a few new skills. Time to finish what I've started and return." Zack thought. He refused to speak to avoid the death class hearing him. He ran out into the fields, away from the cabin. As he left, he turned around because he felt something staring at him. He left it alone after a while. He was right in this assumption as a demon like being with a magma pattern and scales over it.

It was a Kano.