Day 5 (Continuing from last chapter):
His eyes blinked involuntarily as a white flash stunned and left him alone with the old imp. He blinked again and again in mild irritation before the whiteness went away.
Naruto faced the old imp, and narrowed his eyes. "Please don't tell me those girls in the back are food."
The imp's face scrunched up before he looked horrified by the very notion. "No! No, no, no!"
"Oh good."
"Those our prisoners."
Naruto did a double take.
Imp Sou, having learned his name a day ago now knew what to call himself, woke up rather groggily. There were shouts vibrating within the cave sanctuary they were in, and they woke him up.
He rubbed his blurry eyes, and looked around.
The cave, despite being barely lit, was well lit enough for him, a imp, a creature used to the darkness of the night ... and caves. So when he looked around, his eyes locked on to Old Imp and the Odd Imp. It seemed like Odd Imp had some issues with the Old Imp, and the old Imp calmly replied back. Was Odd Imp asking the Old Imp some questions?
He grumbled a bit before going back to sleep with his fingers in his ears.
Stupid Odd Imp.
Naruto grumbled, because he was ... unhappy.
There was a good reason for his unhappiness, and it had to do with the Old Imp.
The Old Imp explained that he was a caretaker of sort, grooming the young, newborn imps. When asked what he was to teach the young imps, the Old Imp ran his mouth on a lecture about everything and anything his ears took as a question ... which was everything. Hell, he seemed to enjoy talking others to death.
Naruto realized by the end of the lecture exactly why the Old Imp had been "chosen" to teach the younger generations.
At the same time, the "lecture" was informative. The Old Imp talked about the surrounding landscapes, its inhabitants, and food that he and other younger imps could try a hand in.
The most important aspect of this world was its diversity. Imps were part of a group of creatures called "sentients," which refer to mortal, fleshlings capable of higher thought processes like ideas, love, and magic. Yes, apparently, magic was a sign of higher thinking process. 'Anything that can use magic can think,' the Old Imp had said. Right off the bat, the Old Imp talked about some of the species that must be avoided. Dragons, elves, orcs, demons, and ...
Humans.
Yes, once more, apparently, the humans were the most dangerous of the entire lot for the single fact that they had the characteristics of the supreme evil and most saintly good.
They were a 100% unpredictable, mostly cruel, many time smart, sometimes dumb, and rarely kind.
Orcs and elves. Polar opposites. Evil and good, cruel and nice. Of course, Naruto didn't believe that every single orcs were evil, or every single elves were good. The analogy held, though, after hearing about some of the things he heard about them.
Now, when Naruto heard there were demons, he was somewhat excited. It had been days since he realized that Kyuubi was no longer with him, leaving him truly alone. His excitement was further rose when he heard that most of the demons were strong. He was excited to fight them! When he mentioned that to the Old Imp, all he got in return was another long lecture/scolding about why an imp should never fight a demon, even if it was considered one of the demonkind itself.
That was another point.
Uzumaki Naruto, formerly of the human race in the lands of Elemental Nation, the boy who was accused of being Kyuubi at few points, and a ninja who became a one man army, was a demon.
It was an irony Naruto couldn't quite get the full grasp on.
The most confusing part about the lecture, however, was the "growth system."
"You may be an imp now," the Old Imp had said. "But as you grow stronger, you will change not only in mind but also in body and soul."
Which started off another bloody lecture.
The Growth System was an established "law of nature" that allows a strong enough creature to evolve. For example, a insignificant garden lizard can become strong enough to become a pygmy alligator, then a true alligator. If the alligator becomes strong enough, it can become even a minor dragon.
In Naruto's own case as an imp, there was a lot of choice for him. The main choices that imps choose to become are succubus(female), incubus(male), and devil.
Succubus and incubus were basically of the same species, and the only difference between them and imps were that they were stronger, faster, smarter, and trickier. That and they also took on a human form. Devils, on the other hand, were completely different from succubus, incubus, and the imps. They had their own evolution tree named the "Devilkin."
They were closer to humans than any of the other devilkins and the demonkins, which is where the imps resided. They took on human aspects like the sins and grew more powerful with each "perversion" they caused. Naruto was not sure if he wanted to become a being that lived to cause perversion.
Because he did not like either of the three, he asked the Old Imp if there were more.
The Old Imp hesitated, but he told Naruto about the rest of the possible creatures that an imp could become. An imp, as a demon-fairy, could choose to cleanse itself of its demon roots to become a pure fairy. However, as fairies are the enemies of demonkind, and since most transformations take place in one's own den, there would be problems ensuing if Naruto chose to go that way. There was also the path of ridding the fairy roots, but that would result in Naruto becoming a Veshta Nerada, a creature of pure darkness. The Old Imp described the creature as something that should not exist yet it does. It devours anything that touches the shadows. Usually, when an imp turns into a Veshta Nerada, it leaves its birth cave alone as it leaves. Nevertheless, even those who evolve fear the Veshta Nerada for their tenacity, indestructibility, and strength.
The Piranhas of the Air.
When asked why imps had such a variety of evolutions that it can evolve into, the Old Imp just shrugged.
"Hell if I know. I never evolved myself."
Day 6
Naruto yawned as he woke up. He blinked sleepily as he looked around. He was still in the cave that he was born in, and he was rather ... hungry.
That reminded him about his newfound goal. He now knew that imps are very weak, and he hated being weak. He promised himself that he would become strong enough to take on groups of human warriors with ease. Why human warriors? He was an imp, creature of chaos. Humans probably didn't like such creatures.
He stood up and walked over to the Old Imp.
"Gramps, where's food?"
The Old Imp looked at him for a second before looking away with a wave of his hand. "It's time you go out and find your own food, Imp Ruto."
Naruto frowned. It was time already?
The Old Imp had told all of the young imps yesterday, once they had all woken up from their long sleep, that today, they would have to go and get their own food.
He had forgotten about that little tidbit.
"Eh," Naruto muttered. "Where would I find food?" He was feeling for some meat today. He had been only eat
The Old Imp scratched his beardless chin. "There are berry bushes to the north, just outside of the cave. I suppose the worm fields to the south would be more challenging since it's a wee bit far off. But that's about it."
"Well, where can I get some meat?"
The Old Imp abruptly burst into laughter. "Y-You getting meat?" Then he went on to laugh some more until he began to cough and ache. He waved Naruto away without even looking at him, going back to whatever he had been doing before. "Don't bother. You're not strong enough to fight the weakest of any creature out there. Don't bother. You'll only get yourself killed."
With that, the conversation ended, and Naruto was left a little betrayed. Having expected to get some meat, he was told to stay away from it, lest he kills himself.
Ping!
Quest!
Desire for meat Pt.1
Requirement:
Meat of any kind
Quest Success:
+1 LvL
+1 HP
Quest Failure:
Starvation, permanent -1 HP
"Wait, what?" he muttered as he looked at the screen.
This was the Gamer screen, where he received events and information. In his past life, he used to hate this screen because of how it taunted him. He came to love it towards the end of his first life, but it had been some experience before then. His confusion, as such, was not in seeing a semi-transparent screen floating in front of him, but the very last statement in the Quest Failure consequences.
"Permanent -1 hp?!" he hissed. "Character Status."
Naruto [Imp Ruto]
LvL 1
The Gamer
HP: 10 (+1.5 Max HP per day until a month old)(+1 HP per hour)
Mana: 100 (+2 per minute)
STR: 3
DEX: 6
AGI: 4
END: 3
INT: 10
WIS: 10
CHA: 2
Unused Points: 5
Spirit: 5
Magic: 10
Power: 3
Traits Taken:
Ambitious, Quick, Genius, Weak, Cynical, Depressed, Content
Focus:
Growing
"Oh," Naruto muttered. "My health is growing?" he asked himself as he clicked at his own HP.
HP: 10 (+1.5 per day until a month old)(+1 HP per hour)
Status:
Child(Imp: Health grows until the character has reached adulthood (+0.5 MAX HP))
Unique Character(All gamers get an advantage in health, as the character is a unique character (+1.0 MAX HP))
Natural Regeneration (Imps have faster regeneration to survive where their fragile bodies normally would not. (+1 HP per hour regen)
"So, I get 1.5 HP daily, and if I don't eat meat today, I would losing more than half of that? Now I definitely need to eat some," he said to himself. "But how?" he wondered for a while before turned back to the Old Imp. "Oi, old man!"
The Old Imp looked at him, slightly irritated. "What?"
"What's the weakest thing out there?"
The Old Imp scratched his chin for a second or two before he seemed to have it. "No idea."
Eventually, Naruto decided to head out on his own. He couldn't get instructions, but he went out on his own to hunt. However, his mind had drifted from his need for meat to other things, like the changes in his Character Status.
For one thing, he didn't see EXP, which was always present. 'Maybe this world doesn't have anything like that?' he thought to himself. 'Magic and Spirit, for instance. They are new. The closest thing to Magic is mana, but I also had that before. I never had Spirit before. I wonder what they are for.'
He could already make some educated guess, though. Spirit probably referred to techniques or abilities related to ... spiritual matters.
Dun... dun... dun~~~!
Yes, very logical. However, there were no indications of how it was related
A sound reached his ear, and his body froze. He slowly turned towards the direction of the sound. There were shrubburies there between the trees.
'Meat.'
With that singular thought in mind, he slowly made his way towards the bushes, keeping his own steps very light and free of sound. When he reached the bushes, he looked over them, and grinned what he saw.
A rabbit. A tiny one as well. Well, tiny from his past perspective. The rabbit was big as he was.
He looked around for something to throw at it, as he doubted his own strength to kill it with his hands. He found a rock, and picked it up.
His arms lurched a bit. 'Damn, I better invest some points into strength later...' he muttered. The rock must be half a kilogram at the max, but it felt much heavier than that.
He lifted it over his head and -!
He paused.
He doubted if his slowly thrown rock could kill the rabbit, if it didn't run away first. Then an idea hit him. He remembered that he could fly! Letting the rock hang from his hands, Naruto slowly rose up, his magic powering his flight.
New Skill!
Fairy Flight (LvL 1)
You can fly like a fairy!
* -1 Mana per minute
*Max Load: 2 kilograms
*You will lose this skill if you lose Fairy or Demonic Origin
Naruto dismissed the screen with his eyes as he slowly flew overhead and directly on top of the rabbit.
And he let go.
Squeeeekkk!
Naruto's lips split sideways.
Lunch time~
It took about an hour for Naruto to take the rabbit apart for its meat. He had somehow removed a large portion of its fur for his later use. 'You never know when you can get something, so gather it when I can,' he thought to himself. He wiped the blood from his lips as he finished the last portion of his meat. There was no way he could eat the entire rabbit...
Ping!
Quest: Desire for Meat Pt.1
Success!
+1 LvL!
+1 HP!
Genius Trait gives +1 HP!
Naruto grinned, feeling himself grow stronger. But ...
Something was wrong.
"Character Status."
The screen popped up... and he saw what was wrong.
He didn't gain any more status points.
Ping!
Your activities before your LvLing has determined your Status!
Oh, so that's how it worked this time?
+1 Strength
+1 Magic
+1 Endurance
+1 Wisdom
+1 Intellect
+1 HP
Genius Trait has given you extra Status points!
"... You know what? I got more points. I don't even care," he said to himself with a grin. Then he turned his attention back to the rabbit after dismissing the screens and the notices. "Now, what am I going to do with the rest of this?"
A sound reached his ear.
Ping!
New Skill!
Listening (LvL 1)
You can listen! Much Surprise.
*+10 meters to clear hearing range
*+5 meters to whispering hearing range
*Any action that removes auditory organs removes this skill.
"Who's there?" he asked with a growl.
Ping!
New Skill!
Intimidation (LvL 1)
You can scare others! 'Fear me, mortals!'
*(Self-LvL/Target-LvL)% x 1.0 chance of causing Caution
*(Self-LvL/Target-LvL)% x 0.5 chance of causing Fear
*If your form changes into something cute or adorable, you will lose this skill.
*If your form changes into something fearsome, multiply Intimidation chance by x2.
Target Cautious!
Target Feared!
Slowly, a imp tinier than he stepped out of the very bushes where he had first intended to throw his rock.
"U-Uh..."
It was imp from his own enclave. "What do you want?" he asked it as he wrapped the now dry blooded fur around his shoulder.
"C-Can I-?"
Grrrrr...
Naruto and the newcomer blinked before Naruto let out a short high-pitched laugh. "Guess your stomach has faster mouth than you do, eh? Go ahead, I already had my fill," he said and with that, he walked out of the spot.
Ping!
Your cool attitude has increased your Charisma
+1 CHA
Genius Trait has given you +1 CHA.
Naruto went back to the enclave cackling, "Nicey Nicey."
(End of Chapter)
[Character Status by the end of Day 6]
Naruto [Imp Ruto]
LvL 2
The Gamer
HP: 15.5 (+1.5 Max HP per day until a month old)(+1 HP per hour regen)
Mana: 120 (+2.4 per minute regen)
STR: 5
DEX: 6
AGI: 4
END: 5
INT: 12
WIS: 12
CHA: 4
Unused Points: 10
Spirit: 5
Magic: 12
Power: 3
Traits Taken:
Ambitious, Quick, Genius, Weak, Cynical, Depressed, Content
Focus:
Growing
Skills:
Fairy Flight (LvL 1)
Listening (LvL 1)
Intimidation (LvL 1)