A bright flash of green light shone through the cracks appearing on the egg, causing everyone around it to shield their eyes.The light slowly faded, though Sila"s vision was still blurry.
At the same time, a system announcement went off in his head.
You have obtained the pet, Lookhin, the Great Sparrowhawk, Level 1 Lord Rank.
You have achieved a certain condition: Raising a monster from Level 1 Squire Rank to Level 1 Lord Rank. You have acquired a special skill: Mind Link.
***The details of your pet have been greatly updated. Please refer to your system window for more information.
The first sensation Sila felt was the pressure on his shoulder. It came with a talon sinking into his flesh, causing him pain. The blood that seeped out slowly dyed his new armor a deep brown.
Sila was used to have Lookhin perching on his body, so he quickly activated Formless Soldier while healing his injury with qi. He extended his arm forward, to which Lookhin obediently hopped down onto.
Lookhin"s body had grown larger. It didn"t look like a baby bird anymore but a large-sized bird comparable to an adult owl. Its now black and brown shiny feathers gave it a magnificent appearance. Its green eyes expressed loftiness and n.o.ble dignity. Even though its power was mostly kept within, Sila sensed that Lookhin"s current power surpa.s.sed even Sebastian before his skills were destroyed. Nevertheless, that might be because Lookhin"s qi-type nature, which meant it possessed superior stats compared to creatures of other types.
Sebastian also sensed Lookhin"s power. He joyfully said, “Oh, Lookhin has gotten ahead of me before I know it. I will have to be diligent from now on.”
Sila reached out in an attempt to stroke Lookhin"s feathers, but the sparrowhawk shifted slightly to avoid his hand. It took several tries before Lookhin finally relented and let Sila touch it, but it still seemed like it didn"t want to be stroked.
Lookhin"s feathers were as soft as silk. Sila felt how the elasticity bounced his hand off and believed that the feathers might be Lookhin"s natural armor.
The only one who had never met Lookhin before was Mamon. He was now angry at the fact that his masterpiece, the Mechanical Evil G.o.d"s Protection, was stained. Even though it would automatically repair and clean itself, Mamon was upset.
“You d.a.m.n bird! You are just a lowly pet. How dare you soil my armor!”
Lookhin shot a side glance at Mamon for a short moment before snorting. It quit paying attention to him and instead started playing with its feathers.
Lookhin"s att.i.tude reminded Mamon of the time when he was just a Squire Rank lesser devil, and all of those hateful monsters looked down on him.
Mamon"s eyes shone with red malice and the nauseating atmosphere returned. This time, however, Mamon also materialized a red ball made of his psychic power on his palm.
Lookhin waved its wing once, and twenty green fireflies flew out. Their appearances were similar to frightening cursed lamps floating in the night.
“Beelzebub"s Entomomageia!!” Mamon and Sebastian exclaimed simultaneously.
Mamon tensed up. Naturally, he knew about Entomomageia. In fact, most of the monsters in the Monster Realm knew about it. It was a magic spell that almost ruined all beings in the Monster Realm during the ancient era. G.o.d and the Demon Lord had to temporarily join forces in order to defeat Beelzebub. Mamon also joined the G.o.d-demon alliance, though his true objective was to infiltrate both armies and steal Hidden Gifts from everyone present.
That event was one of the few times that G.o.d and the Demon Lord worked together. Despite that, Beelzebub still relied on Entomomageia to fend off combined forces consisting of ten thousand divine beings and demons for seven days straight without difficulty.
In the end, the nightmare ended when Beelzebub suddenly disappeared even though he hadn"t lost yet.
All of the survivors from the combined army were dumbfounded. After the great war, all beings in the Monster Realm were horrified by Entomomageia enough to the point where they entered a temporary truce. It wasn"t until 150 years later when they were certain Beelzebub wouldn"t come back that both sides began to fight each other again, leaving Entomomageia as one of the myths in the Monster Realm.
Only a handful of people were aware of the truth behind Beelzebub"s sudden disappearance, and Sebastian was one of those few.
At that time, the Monster Realm was still recovering from the suffering that Lucifer had brought down five hundred years ago before he was sealed.
Many monsters from various races and tribes built up their power and strengthened their influence. They joined forces with allies and overwhelmed their foes in order to expand their territories.
Beelzebub was one of those who sought domination. There was a distinct difference between him and the other monsters though, and that was that he acted alone.
He unleashed the only spell in his possession, Entomomageia, which was a new kind of magic that had never appeared in any legends even in the Monster Realm.
As a result, Sebastian"s master had to personally take action. He descended and secretly sealed Beelzebub before the situation got any worse, returning a temporary peace to the Monster Realm.
Even till this day, not one being had discovered Entomomageia"s weakness or how to oppose it. It was a magic spell that defied the law of nature, a heaven-defying magic.
Usually, the stronger a magic user grew, the more they became one with nature. As their unison developed, they could borrow mana from nature and cast stronger spells.
However, Entomomageia was a power that swallowed and destroyed nature. A kind of magic that was sentient. Once materialized, the magic itself would transform into whichever insect Beelzebub desired. Then, the magic insect would swallow everything in order to evolve. As it continued eating, it would give birth to more insects and become stronger at a rapid rate. What started as one weak insect turned into swarms of monstrous bugs that overwhelmed everyone and everything.
If one had to describe Beelzebub"s ability, only the following would suffice: Entomomageia, a living magic.
Mamon felt Lookhin was formidable even though it was a mere bird, an inferior race even among the lowest in the Monster Realm. He slapped the red ball, causing it to pop. Once he opened his palms, several colorful balloons miraculously flew from his hands. One of them enveloped Mamon"s body.
“Enough, Lookhin. Stop. Don"t bully Mamon.”
Sila commanded Lookhin to stop, to which it complied and all of the fireflies vanished. Lookhin then played with its feathers as if nothing had happened.
Mamon felt like he was losing face. “Why stop?! I can fight!”
Sila sighed and fired several qi-strengthened suntetsu at where Mamon was standing. The suntetsu pierced four large centipedes hiding underground. They convulsed and disappeared.
“This is...”
Mamon canceled the balloons and looked at the centipedes. Even Sebastian was surprised. He couldn"t sense when and where they came from.
Sila stroked Lookhin"s head while explaining, “While both of you paid attention to fireflies, Lookhin secretly summoned these centipedes. I felt a slight vibration through the ground, so I extended my senses and found them. When something strange happens, we must immediately inspect it. That"s one of the basics.”
True, what Sila said was one of the basics of being a fighter. However, the fact was Lookhin had properly concealed its power, and one of the good traits of Entomomageia was that it always started with a small unit, in other words a small insect. It started small and quickly consumed the power of nature to evolve. As a result, it was difficult to detect those small units.
Mamon seemed upset, though he admitted that he currently was no match for Lookhin. He fell silent and tried to think of a way to get payback against both Sila and Lookhin.
The problem seemed to be over. Sila opened his system window to read Lookin"s details.
Pet Status: Lookhin
Level: 1
Race: Great Sparrowhawk, Lord Rank
Health Points: 5,000,000/5,000,000
Special Points: 300,000/300,000
Satiety: 53/1,000
Affection Level: 34%
Lookhin"s Skills:
(S) Oceanic Mind - Transcendent Rank
Psychic power that can link the user"s mind with things around the user. The effective range is as far as the ocean. You must study the skill"s potential by yourself.
(S) Great Sparrowhawk Qi - Transcendent Rank
Lookhin"s unique and versatile qi, developed from its own experiences. You must study the skill"s potential by yourself.
(S) Entomomageia - Transcendent Rank
Living magic inherited from Beelzebub, Lord of the Flies. It is a sentient spell. You must study the skill"s potential by yourself.
(B) Transformation
Changes the user"s body into a human form.
As he finished reading, Sila felt both relieved and worried. It seemed to him that a great number of Lookhin"s skills had disappeared, leaving only four behind. Aside from Transformation, Lookhin seemed to be left with one skill of each energy type.
A troublesome factor was that Lookhin"s special points had reduced from millions to just three hundred thousand. It might be because they were compensated by acquiring three transcendent rank skills.
Talking about transcendent rank, it brought Sila another headache. While it was true that transcendent-rank skills were impressive, they often came with vague details, leaving a lot of it up to the user"s interpretation.
Sila was the one who created Yin Yang Energy, so it was conceivable for him to study and develop it. However, Sila was oblivious regarding any of the three skills Lookhin possessed. It was almost impossible for him to help it polish all three skills.
Sila lovingly stroked Lookhin"s head. “Both of us will practice our skills together. Okay, Lookhin? As we go through trials and errors, we will surely become stronger.”
Lookhin nodded at Sila"s words.
Little did Sila know that what he considered a big problem was, in fact, not an issue at all. Firstly, even with its current abilities, Lookhin was already quite strong. Furthermore, Sila overlooked the fact that Lookhin could properly use Entomomageia even though that was its first time showing this power.
Lookhin was a monster, not a human. Its learning process relied more on its instinct rather than practising over time.
Even if Sila did nothing, Lookhin would eventually master the powers it wielded, though it might take longer.
“Lookhin, you seem hungry... um, starving, in fact. Julia, please feed it something.”
As it heard that it was going to be fed, Lookhin quickly flew to Julia.
Sila was worried that Lookhin might hurt Julia accidentally. However, Lookhin gently perched on Julia"s arm without digging its talons into her arm. It seemed the act of being pierced by its talons was a privilege saved only for Sila.
“Hmph! That d.a.m.n bird. Just you wait. When my power returns to me, I will make you cry.”
Mamon grabbed the hem of Sila"s fabric armor and activated his high-tier item cleaning skill to remove the blood stain. Even though the armor can clean itself over time, Mamon didn"t like his items being dirty, especially the armor where he would be residing.
“The armor is indeed working. Just now, I needed to exert thrice my power. It is due to the Hidden Gift, Talentless, isn"t it?”
Sila opened his system window to check the armor"s description. The explanation regarding Lookhin had changed.
First Gift Slot: The Great Sparrowhawk.
The slot where the Lord-Rank great sparrowhawk, Lookhin, is currently registered. The pet inside the armor will need neither food nor drink. The pet inside the armor will recover two times faster than normal. You can summon Lookhin, the great sparrowhawk. You have acquired the following Hidden Gifts:
Mixed Type: The effectiveness of mixed-type skills increase by 10%.
Unimportant Being: Players meeting you for the first time have to try harder to remember you.
Live to Eat: You can eat three times more food than usual.
Majestic Bird: While your body is in mid-air, all of your resources will recover twice as fast.
Spring Tide: The phase of the moon directly affects your overall ability.
“Wow. The Hidden Gifts really did change, but... many of them still look as nonsensical as before.”
Seizing a chance, Mamon quickly replied, “That"s why you should help me regain my strength as soon as possible. I will be able to help you get rid of Hidden Gifts with bad effects.”
Sila was about to close his system window, when he noticed that Illuminus should be ready for him to use. He wondered what the final stage of the Right Arm of the Sealed One looked like.
“Illuminus.”
At the end of his sentence, a large mechanical arm protruded over his shoulder from his right shoulder blade. It looked both futuristic and mysterious, engraved with illuminating characters that were unknown to Sila, though he could somehow tell that its meaning was: Technology beyond our imagination is no different from magic.
Sila tried moving it and found that it was very easy to control (which Mamon explained was completely due to the effect of the Hidden Gift Third Hand). Although it seemed big and clunky, it wasn"t obstructive to his movement at all.
(S) Illuminus, the Ultimate Weapon of Protection
The Right Arm of the Sealed One, Joshua, that acted as the ultimate shield, armor, and light of all armaments in Monster Soul.
Illuminus cannot inflict any damage.
Illuminus cannot be broken. It can block any kind of threat and negates the damage of any attacks it comes into contact with.
Illuminus doesn"t require an equipment slot to be equipped. You can control Illuminus regardless of your physical condition.
You can use the Item Skill: Shield of Illuminus.
You can use the Item Skill: Armor of Illuminus.
You can use the Item Skill: Light of Illuminus.
Item Skill: Shield of Illuminus
Upon activation, select any number of targets. Monsters, items, players, or places are all valid targets. The largest possible target is the entire world.
Expand Illuminus" protection range as a dome-like sphere covering the target(s). No attacks can pa.s.s through either side of the shield.
Skill Duration: One minute per day (acc.u.mulative). The skill duration will be reduced depending on the number and size of the target(s). Any unused time will acc.u.mulate with no upper limit.
The damage to Shield of Illuminus cannot be absorbed for Light of Illuminus.
Item Skill: Armor of Illuminus
Upon activation, select any number of targets. Monsters, items, players, or places are all valid targets. The largest possible target is the entire world.
Expand Illuminus" protection range as a dome-like sphere covering the target(s). No attacks can penetrate the armor, though the target(s) can attack normally.
Skill Duration: One second per day (acc.u.mulative). The skill duration will be reduced depending on the number and size of the target(s). Any unused time will acc.u.mulate with no upper limit.
The damage to Armor of Illuminus can be absorbed for Light of Illuminus.
Item Skill: Light of Illuminus
Upon activation, select any number of targets. Monsters, items, players, or places are all valid targets. The largest possible target is the entire world.
Receives any attacks taken by the target(s) and reduces the damage. The amount of damage it reduces is relative to how much damage Illuminus has absorbed directly or through Armor of Illuminus.
The skill will fail once all absorbed damage is depleted.
“Wow. As expected of a legendary weapon. Not only can it block all attacks but it also grants me three defensive skills.”
Sila thought back to when Montra held Bow as a hostage. If he possessed these skills at that time, things would not have gone down as badly.
Sila didn"t care if he had to take a risk. He was more worried about the people who were kind to him. Illuminus would certainly become a great a.s.set for opposing Montra.