A Reincarnated Demon’s Tales of Wonder (Prototype) - Vol 3 Chapter 0

The man hid in the shadows of the rock, waiting while keeping his fear in check. This was not Earth. This was not the safe society of humans where monsters didn’t exist. As if proving that fact, a gigantic mantis passed his hiding place.

The mantis had already noticed the man, as he had released a small scream when he saw the mantis turning a full-grown bear into mincemeat. Still, the bear had more meat, and the man was hiding in a small cave, so the mantis decided to ignore the man in favor of the bear.

When the insect monster had left, the man crawled out of the cave. In fear of the monster returning, the man started to run the opposite way of the mantis.

He ran, and ran, and ran. As if the Grim Reaper was right behind him, aiming for his neck.

The man didn’t stop until he had reached the end of the bamboo forest, which was the tip of a cliff. The cold, mountain winds blew through the man’s suit, making him shiver from the cold. The smell of sweat and other unspeakable fluids didn’t make the experience any better.

However, the man didn’t care about that. The view from the cliff had made him speechless. He was looking from the beginning of a gigantic mountain range, decorated with forests of bamboo, like the one he had run out of. The foot of the mountains where a massive plain, with wild animals such as goats, sheep, even wolfs and giant reptiles could be seen. And in the middle of the plain, there was a small carriage driving on what couldn’t be anything else than a man-made rode.

The man’s heart was filled with hope. There is human life here! But he couldn’t relax yet. There could be more monsters such as the bear or the mantis from before. The man sat down and retrieved a jet-black book from his document case. The book looked like an antique, which clashed completely with the man’s modern suit, but he didn’t care. While flipping through the jet-black pages of the book, he carefully read through the book’s content, making sure that he didn’t miss anything.

The man studied the book as if his life was counting on it. And while the man didn’t know yet, but that was the greatest course of action he could ever have done for the rest of his life.

—

Day 7 after leaving Velantas. What I’m doing now? Being bored.

After the festival, Bermuda had rewarded us with a special safe which I could store materials inside. This thing’s supposed to be more secure than my [Demonic Vault] skill, so it was promoted to “Disaster-Container” at the spot.

I also received something more important than the safe: a recommendation for the Alchemist trials in Yanxiong! With this baby, I can skip the formalities, and take the test for the certification to obtain the Alchemist class!

It took two weeks but we finally managed to buy our carriage. Well, it only took three days, but there was a mass migration of those bloody bulls again, so we needed to wait. The carriage is capable of holding six people, plus the driver and some luggage. As we have all our luggage in the storage skills, we have tons of space left.

The carriage is pulled by two bicorns, demonic horses with two horns, and the unicorn’s antithesis. The bicorns are the third specific summonings of my Summoner class, which I picked just for this occasion.

The group consists of me, who sits in the back of the carriage, enjoying the view from here, the water sprite Mira in the driver’s seat, the Growth Chimera Lily who’s studying inside the carriage, and my tamed monsters, Levi the Undead Dragon, and Blitz the Darkman. The golem-otaku Carion had stayed in Velantas, with his excuse being that he wanted to study Gargoyles, while the real reason is that he didn’t want to travel so far.

Notwithstanding, Carion’s a great member of our party, even if we’re far apart. The Velantas region is still infested with undeads, so I gave him the mission of increasing our party’s creed while he stays there. It should be easy enough.

“Hey, Garami. Can we eat soon?” – Lily

“Hmm, alright. In half an hour.” – Garami

“Yippie!” Lily jumped inside the carriage while thinking of today’s lunch. None of us had any profound talent in cooking, but light campfire cooking is doable. We had bought tons of portable dinners from the inn I lived in back in Velantas, and while its security is being doubted, [Demonic Vault] is completely capable of stopping the time of its contents, so we have enjoyed some real gourmet food when we’re too tired to cook our own, or too tired of bad food.

“Garami. Change with me after lunch.” – Mira

“…Can’t Lily do it?” – Garami

“You know the bicorns won’t allow that.” – Mira

“You’re right. Fine, but find a good resting place.” – Garami

“Stop acting like I’m a child all the time! I’m just as old as you two!” – Lily

Lily may be older than us, but her size ain’t. Growth Chimera’s will only grow when consuming monster meat, so the former money-less Lily had the appearance of a 12-to-14-year-old girl when we first met her. She’s been a real food fighter after she joined, and looks no younger than 16, with a height of 154 cm. She’s still wearing a red vest, along with a white shirt and hotpants similar to my own. But she’s still missing some assets that Mira has plenty off…

Blitz’s staying inside our shadows all day long, or reads the books I bought in Velantas. He’s more of an intellectual than I first gave him credit for. Levi couldn’t drag the carriage, so she’s walking beside us, and goes off to hunt some small monsters from time to time. She’s become so good at that, she’s qualified herself for the Hunter class. They grow up so fast…

*Flash*

Wait a sec… this is a magic circle? And a teleportation type! I jumped off the carriage in the hope of escaping the magic circle, but the thing followed me! Magic circles are supposed to be stationary! But my complaints were unheard while the magic circle’s light increased in strength.

—

When the light faded, I had already gone into Kur Kigal-Mode, with all of my spider limbs out, and dual-wielding my Tyrant Dagger and Crimson Blood Cleaver. I was about to drag out more arms when I noticed where I was: on a cliff just a few kilometers away from the carriage. I could still see it in the distance. Who uses teleportation magic to call someone that close?

The answer is; a man in a modern suit. And on his knees. What the heck?

“P-please spare me! I don’t know where I am, but so-someone told me if I used this book, t-the person that appears would be able to help me! T-they told me to give y-you this, along with the book.” – Man in suit

The man gave me a piece of paper, along with what appears to be a black grimoire. What the heck’s this thing? It felt like my Kigal-Note, but it had some eeriness that made me feel sick. Let’s see, the paper is… not written on Terrarian. Not English either. But these strange symbols, I think I get what they mean, but not with [Language Adaption]. It’s more, instinctively.

Garami, take care of this guy.

He felt into a dimensional rift I made by accident when I was quarreling with Agnir.

Sorry.

The book is the sole Grimoire to summon you, so give it to your sweetheart, okay?

Love, Ria-chan.

……Ignite.

The cursed book and the annoying note burned nicely with my fire magic.

“Wha-?! What are you-?!” – Man in suit

“Guess my acquaintance has made some trouble for you. Want a ride to the closest city?” – Garami

I transformed back to human form and I gave the man a dose of Cleaning spell, as he smelled anything but good. The man was surprised by my sudden magic, but it did wonders of removing his fears along with the dirt. Magic does that to us other-worlders.

I got a better look at the guy: he had straight, dark hair, a thin face, and light brown skin. Despite this, his face looked more western than Asian, and dark green eyes. I wouldn’t call him a male beauty, but he’s not ugly either. It’s more like… normal. He’s like the definition of normal. Your everyday, modern, Villager A. Or maybe C?

“Well then, my name is-” – Garami

*CRASH!*

Before I could introduce myself, a large number of bamboos fell. From out of the bamboo forest came something that looked like a massive mantis.

“A-ahh… not again…” – Man in suit

I don’t think it’s after you, but me. It has locked-on to me with its eyes, and don’t spare a glance on the man. I forgot to reapply [Stealth] after I turned it off when I went into battle-mode, so did it came here cause it ‘smelled’ my aether?

=====================================================================

Nameless

Race: [Predator Mantis]   | Level: 8

Karma Value: -39

Skills: 6

HP: 71/71   | MP: 10/10   | SP: 61/66

STR: 65   | VIT: 45   | MAG: 7

RES: 12   | SPD: 62  | DEX: 50

INT: 56   | LUC: 82

=====================================================================

…Weak. Why’re you acting like you have no chance of losing? Is this what they call ‘a big frog in a small well’?

The mantis dashed towards us. The man screamed with fear, but nothing happened. I made nothing happen. The mantis’ feet were stuck in the webs I had thrown while it was too busy thinking about how to eat me.

Before the mantis even could try to remove the web, something it wouldn’t be able to anyway, I had launched my blood daggers with [Poltergeist]. The mantis was cut into pieces by the flying daggers before it could even take a position to guard itself.

“……No way…” – Man in suit

“Alright, starting from the top: My name is Garami, a D-rank adventurer, the Champion of Alvatria, and the leader for the D-rank adventurer party, Ignis Fatuus. Pleased to meet you.” – Garami

—

“So, Marcus Pollen, was it?” – Garami

“Ah, just call me Marc. All my friends do… did that.” – Marc

After my introduction, I sent a Gheist down to Mira and Lily with a message about what had happened.

I moved on to explain what the world of Terra Sol was to Marc, how he had arrived here, WHY he had arrived here, and that he couldn’t return home due to his body having adapted to Terra Sol’s massive aether levels. It was after that I noticed that I still didn’t know what his name was, and had him introduce himself.

But damn, I’m stumped. I had no memories of my former life, so I got used to the new world in a flash. Heck, I NEEDED to become used to it if I didn’t want to die. How should I cheer him up… I got it!

“Hey, don’t worry. As I said before, this world has a special World System. Not only does it regulate the aether-levels, but it also lets us foolish mortals obtain special abilities called skills.” – Garami

“Skills…? Like in a game?” – Marc

“Bingo! I’ve heard from a reliable source that the World System was based on games from your world. You can be anything from a warrior to a magician, or a hunter in the forest if that’s your thing.” – Garami

“…Seriously?” – Marc

Oh! He quickened up. Good, he’s one of my people.

“Serious. Look, one of my skills is called [Appraisal], and it lets me see the status of the people I use it on, amongst other things. We can use it to see what your stats are at the moment… I completely forgot!” – Garami

“What?! What did you forget?” – Marc

“Guys like you are called Migrants by the people of this world, and you get minimum 1, max 5 skills at random. But that means you can have some nasty skills without knowing.” – Garami

I should have appraised him the moment I saw him, but the strangeness of seeing someone wearing a suit in this world knocked me off my game hard.

“T-then what shall I do?” – Marc

“Just stay calm. This is my specialty.” – Garami

And, [Appraisal]!

=====================================================================

Marcus Pollen

Race: [Human]   | Level: 1

Karma Value: 0

Skills: 5

Titles: 1

Skill Points: 11.0

Main Class: none

HP: 35/35   | MP: 40/40   | SP: 13/25

STR: 20   | VIT: 20   | MAG: 35

RES: 32   | SPD: 17  | DEX: 25

INT: 122   | LUC: 110

=====================================================================

“Hmm, your stats are like this. Based on them alone, I would say being a magician would suit you best.” – Garami

I said that to Marc while showing him the [Appraisal] result.

“Then, how about the skills?” – Marc

“Give me a sec.” – Garami

=====================================================================

SKILL LIST

Magic Skills: [Fire Magic LV1]   [Earth Magic LV1]

Active Skills: [Great Guard LV1]

Perception Skills: [Appraisal LV1]

Unique Skills: [Dimension Merchant LV1]

=====================================================================

“*Gaaaaaaaaasp*!” – Garami

“Well, am I safe? Hey, Garami? Garami? Garami!” – Marc

Greydra

Kigal-Note/Monsters/Insects: Predator Mantis

The Predator Mantis is a breed of insect monsters that live in warmer forests. Many are seen in the bamboo forests on the Yanxiong mountain range. They look like 1.8-meter high mantises, but other than that they have no notable physical characteristics.

The Predator Mantis is a non-attribute monster ranked E+, but it is stronger than most of its peers. This is due to it having the skills, [Sword Arts], [Swordmanship], and [Cutting Enhancement] from birth. This makes the Predator Mantis an extremely skilled swordsman, and it uses its blade-like arms to cut through even the toughest beasts.

The Predator Mantis also has the [Sense Aether] skill, which allows it to catch on large aether readings from quite the distance. The Predator Mantis has a taste for beasts with a high aether level. They do lack the ability to understand that they will be in danger if they are facing an opponent stronger than themselves.

The arms of the Predator Mantis is used to create blades, while its exoskeleton can be used for armor.

Garami’s comment: One sword for Mira, and one armor for Lily.