Risk

'For god's sake, he is not going say my name, right? Is the father, as senseless as his son?'

Aru thought as he looked at Das' figure standing erect in the darkness. 

"His name is Aru. A six-year-old child that awakened his spirit this year." Das proclaimed proudly.

'F*ck. What else can I expect from the Dal's father.'

If it was up to Aru, he would have liked to remain low-key until he was strong. But that's going to be difficult considering that Das has made him famous now. 

The tribal warriors of this world were driven by four pillar principles—pride, loyalty, honour, and glory. Das expected Aru, to be happy when the entire tribe knew of his name. After all, it was glory to his name. But his expectations were unwarranted. 

Aru was not the kind to seek glory. 

"Aru, who is it?"

"Do you know?"

"I don't."

The warriors began to ask each other. But they have no recollection of the child called Aru. 

However, Dal and his cohort, along with the other kids who were staying far away observing the battle knew the name. They were amazed to hear it from the mouth of Das. They began to think of Aru differently from that day onwards. 

"If a six-year-old that has yet to be a rank 1 warrior can do it, we can also do it." Das continued. 

Das stepped towards the trembling body of the demon and gazed at it emotionally. Even if it was a demon, the owner of the body was someone he knew. 

"Aru had said to me that the weakness of the demon lies near the spine. You have to plunge your knife near the midpoint of the spine, above the stomach until you hit something hard."

Das stabbed his sword into the exposed back of the demon. 

The tendrils that were moving to collect the head stopped mid-way when he stabbed that place. After a second, it began to dissolve into the ground like normal blood. 

In a single try, Das had accurately hit the body of the demon inside the host.

"This is the quickest way to kill the demon inside the body." He said after seeing the body go limp. 

Meanwhile, Aru felt embarrassed seeing the curious gaze coming in his direction. 

Fortunately, the message from the system grabbed his attention. 

[Mission complete - reward +1 link]

[Symbiotic links available - 9] 

Even without doing daily missions, his link had increased again.

Killing nemesis lifeform was the best!

'Ah! But I didn't kill it this time. Why did the system reward me.'

'Maybe, it was due to my involvement in finding and eliminating the demon.'

'Anyway, it is a good thing. Always happy to have more links.'

Thinking up to this point, he took his eyes away from the system message.

'If the system is rewarding me, can I also absorb the spirit energy?' 

Aru eyes wandered towards the corpse of the demon. And just as saw it, another window appeared over the corpse asking for confirmation in absorbing the spirit energy.

[Absorb spirit energy from the nemesis creature?]

[Yes, No]

Aru accepted it without thinking for a second.

'Free spirit energy, Yahoo!' He was overjoyed.

The feeling of getting things for free was just awesome.

'They worked hard to kill it, but I reaped all the benefits. Now I am not even angry about using my name.' 

The torrent of spirit energy travelled the distance between the corpse and Aru in a straight line. It connected with his body and began to merge with him. 

Aru's spirit energy was full. So, instead of recovering the energy, the total quantity of his spirit energy began to increase. 

1

2

2.5

It increased by a total of 3 units. 

The rank 2 warrior who was the host of the demon had about 25 units of spirit energy when he died. That 25 units were entirely used to raise the upper limit of spirit energy Aru could hold by 2.5 units. 

The conversion rate was about 10 to 1. 

'Nice!'

Aru was happy with the reward.

'System, show my status.'

[Symbiotic links available - 9] 

[Spirit identity - Seed form, Elemental affinity - Water 70%, Earth 10%, Lightning 1%, Wood 1%]

[Spirit energy - 6.4] 

[Missions: 

Daily mission -Share all of the user spirit energy with the linked lifeform. Reward +1 link.

Challenge mission - Defeat a rank 1 lifeform. Reward +1 link.] 

'Really, nice.' He giggled looking at his stats.

The number of spirit energy he had was increased from 3.9 to 6.4. It was a great improvement when you consider the short amount of time since he had awakened.

"Is it over?" Mala asked Das when she saw that the demon stopped moving. 

"Yes, you can take it to study." Das knew why Mala was asking and replied appropriately. 

The people began to disperse once the demon was killed. 

Mala took back the corpse to study while Kora and Aru were asked to meet the chief. 

—

In the northern part of the camp the chief resides, Aru and Kora standing patiently before the elderly man.

The chief was seated in a chair, gently stroking his grey beard as he contemplated deeply. After a while, he reached a decision and inquired in a softer tone, "Aru, do you have the ability to sense demons?"

"If I can see the body up close, I will be able to sense demons." Aru gave a concise answer. 

"Hmm," the chief nodded, taking another moment to ponder.

"The demons pose a threat to our tribe, correct?" he continued.

"Yes," Aru affirmed.

Sensing the direction of the conversation, Aru anticipated the next question.

"So, we should take all necessary measures to halt their spread, correct?"

"Yes."

"Then, would you be willing to participate in a mission to hunt demons?" the chief finally asked, though somewhat reluctantly.

"But, Chief, he is just a child," Kora interjected immediately.

While Kora voiced her opposition, Aru's mind raced to weigh the risks and benefits.

'It might be dangerous, but at the same time, it presents an opportunity for me to grow stronger, faster. Doing daily missions and linking with many lifeforms was the safer way, but it would not be as fast.'

'The system is giving better rewards for killing demons as if it wants me to hunt demons.'

'Should risk it all?''

"We will try our best to maintain his safety at all times, that is my promise." The chief said immediately.

"Still…" Kora was about to reject.

"I am willing to help." Suddenly Aru interjected and spoke.

He decided to take the risk this time.

"But Aru…"

"Master, I have to do it." 

Aru decided to follow his gut this time. There were no rewards without risks, it has always been like that. In the past life, he was averse to taking any risk, this time, he chose to change that a little bit.