Chapter 54: Strange changes

Lucien's final attack left the ground and his body trembling. The head of the Black devil was reduced to a bloody paste while the rest of its body remained intact, laying there lifelessly. As much as Lucien would have loved to deny this, his victory was only thanks to the shadow cloak shill. The fact remains that a magic beast like the black devil has keen senses and it will be very difficult to launch a surprise attack, unfortunately for the magic beast, the shadow cloak completely masks one's presence and with the lingering effect still on Lucien after he exited the cluster of black clouds, he was able to land a decisive blow that made him the winner of the battle but at a cost.

"Damn!" Lucien muttered as he tried to get on his feet but his body won't let him. His body was aching and his eyes were weak and heavy. Lucien felt like death would be better than going through all this pain.

"So this is what happens when I go overboard" Lucien muttered.

His hands kept trembling and a high-pitched sound kept ringing in his ear, making him wish he could just cover his ears but this is currently impossible since his hands couldn't stop trembling!

His body was just a small push away from shutting down!

"Status…" he muttered with great effort

[Host: Lucien]

[Race: Beast-man]

[Realm: 2nd sky of the Human realm]

[Charisma: 20]

[Hp: 2/30]

[Mana: 13/50]

[Condition: Critical]

[Exp: 170]

Seeing this Lucien was sure of two things concerning the abilities of the system. The first had to deal with the commando mode that the system used to save his life earlier when he got hit clean by the black devil. He guessed that this mode allows the system to shortly take over his body and use it to protect him from danger in serious moments when his life is at risk. The condition for this mode to activate is that he must be incapable of controlling his body or just unconscious. The second thing he also took note of is that system skills like the gaze of the emperor and wind creek dive or shadow cloak do not consume his mana.

"Ouch…" Lucien complained as his body ached even more and his vision blurred occasionally. 

Although he would have loved to return to the camp, with only two health points left, he dared not return to the forest filled with dangerous magic beasts at different levels. Unable to bear the pain anymore Lucien laid down on his back with numerous notifications popping up and ringing in his head. His silver eyes shifted towards the numerous messages appearing by the side.

DING!

DING!

DING!

[Quest completed…]

[+1000exp]

[Penalty for commando mode… Host loses half of quest experience point reward]

[-500exp]

[A Black devil was killed… +20% Beast assimilation points]

[Bonus reward! +10% Beast assimilation point for Shadow death God beast]

[Beast assimilation successful]

[Beast assimilation Successful]

[Beast assimilated…]

[Shadow death God beast]

[Phase: Adolescent]

[Beast name: Black Devil]

[Assimilation progress: 41%]

[Abilities unlocked]

[Shadow cloak: User shrouds himself with darkness, allowing him to blend with the darkness and move around undetected]

[Shadow paw: User strikes the enemy with a shadow-infused attack, leaving the enemy with a weakening effect. Effect of this ability can be stacked]

[Shadow hop: While using the shadow cloak skill, the user can utilize the shadow hop to move from shadow to shadow without getting detected]

[Shadow mark: User can mark an ally or foes shadow, allowing him to track them… The effect lasts for only an hour]

[Shadow steal: The user is able to steal the shadow of those he enters using shadow hop. This boosts the strength of the caster's shadow skills while weakening the enemy… For each shadow the user steals, he gains 1% beats assimilation point as well]

"Wow…" Lucien said with heavy eyes.

"Shop" He muttered.

DING!

[Shop section activated]

[Basic Creation path: 2000exp]

[Basic Contractor path: 2000exp]

[Basic Illusionist path: 2000exp]

[Basic Seeker path: 2000exp]

[Basic Guardian path: 2000exp]

[Basic Warden path: 2000exp]

[Basic Seer path: 2000exp]

[Module Q1: This allows the user to keep a spell or a system ability active but at the cost of one mana point per hour! While this is in use, the host will not be able to replenish mana points by resting]

[500exp]

Seeing this Lucien didn't even bother to go through other things and he quickly purchased Module Q1. He could feel his consciousness fading and he knew its only a matter of time before he passes out. Even a fool knew that the corpse of the Black devil will attract other predators here so without giving it a second thought, Lucien cast the shadow cloak over him and the corpse and then requested that the system activates module Q1.

With that taken care of, Lucien shut his eyes and slept off immediately!

________________________________________________________________

It was already getting late, leaving Hex and Brian worried. The sun was down and Lucien was yet to return leaving them with so many strange thoughts in their head. Since they were too busy with work they didn't notice Lucien was gone till it was late already.

Did he run into a magical beast?

They considered the possibility of him running into a magic beast and getting killed but they quickly shook the thought off their head since they knew Lucien was probably one of the strongest students in their set. Unless he came across a soldier-level magic beast, he shouldn't have any issues. 

What if he ran into a soldier-level magic beast? 

No!

The beginner area shouldn't have soldier-level magic beasts, the only soldier-level magic beasts present can be found at the hilltops where the badges are kept.

"Should we go and search for him?" Brian asked but Hex shook his head in disapproval.

"It's already late... Dark… If we should meet dark type beasts with affinity to the darkness element like the Black Hush we will be at a serious disadvantage" Hex said after giving the matter some thought.

Rustle!

Rustle!

Rustle!

The bushes shook violently, drawing their attention. As students who considered themselves strong, they didn't panic, instead, they waited for the enemy to approach.

Bam!

An injured Lucien staggered out of the forest while dragging the corpse of the black devil. His eyes looked dull, his silver kimono was torn badly. They could see deep claw wounds on his exposed chest and his shaky hands covered in blood!

"What the hell!"

Hex and Brian screamed as they dashed forward to help him.

________________________________________________________________

A stream was located not too far from their campsite and after washing himself and his putting on the spare black robe, Hex had in his space storage ring, Lucien returned to the campsite and sat on one of the chair-sized rocks placed around the campfire.

He narrated all that happened to the rest of the team, stating how he encountered a pack of black hush magic beasts and how one of them evolved in the middle of the battle. He went ahead to tell them the fight and how he barely won. Hex and Brian listened attentively, hearing all Lucien had gone through in just a few hours. They wouldn't believe his story if it wasn't for the fact that they were roasting the corpse of the black devil and using it as their dinner. 

What was more shocking was that Lucien is strong enough to beat a soldier-level creature and they all believed this shouldn't be so for people their age. They couldn't help but wonder how powerful Lucien is and how much strength he has been hiding from them.

"When the hell did you learn a tier two spell!" Hex blurted out in disbelief!

Even a genius like him only knows a handful of tier-one spells and this is considered excellent but Lucien already knew a tier-two spell!

Like how does he has enough mana to cast a tier two spell and several tier-one spells?

"I learned a few tier two spells with my spare time" Lucien answered the question innocently, not knowing how much mental damage he was dealing to the young creation path mage.

"A few? It's not even one? How many!" Hex growled like a mad beast and only then did Lucien understand what's going on.

Thanks to the system he has far surpassed his peers without even knowing. His strength should be on par with the second or third years in the academy, which shouldn't be so!

"Just three…" Lucien lied but that was enough to kill what was left of Hex's pride.

He watched his friend calm down while gazing at the flames with a blank face. It looked like his soul was sucked out of his body, leaving behind a pitiful looking Husk.

"There shouldn't be soldier-level beasts here… The academy makes sure of that…. Unless they decided to make this harder this year but I don't think this should be so… So many people will die because of these strange changes" Brain said with a serious look on his face.