BXBX NOVEL Chapter 53: Rumors About The Higher Demon
'This is new,' Nox thought as he watched Fluffington and Thirteen start retrieving the cores from the ant carcasses. Then his face contorted in discomfort as he watched the brutal methods his two pets used to retrieve the cores.
He instinctively glanced at the Ant Queen standing beside him. She seemed stoic and unaffected by the sight of the beasts digging their claws into the ants to retrieve the cores.
"I hope you don't mind," Nox said with a bitter smile.
The Ant Queen merely nodded her head. She didn't mind because the ants were already dead; she preferred her master extracting their cores over the other demons that hunted in this dimension.
Her only wish was that he wouldn't hunt the members of her colony, to which Nox readily agreed.
As Fluffington and Thirteen brought back all the beast cores they'd extracted from the ant carcasses, Nox frowned.
There were too few beast cores! Despite there being over a hundred ant carcasses, only 50 cores were recovered. He looked at his two pets.
The two beasts whistled and looked away suspiciously.
'Hmmm,' Nox narrowed his eyes as a message glimmered before him.
[Mister Fluffington - Progress: 99/100%]
[Thirteen - Progress: 99/100%]
"You little scoundrels! You absorbed the beast cores!" Nox exclaimed.
Unbeknownst to Nox, during the fight with the ants, both Fluffington and Thirteen had absorbed their fair share of beast cores, significantly increasing their progression.
'I wonder if they'll also receive an increase in stats when they level up like me,' Nox mused.
[Panda, eat?] Thirteen picked up a beast core and brought it close to his mouth. He sensed that absorbing just one more beast core would propel him to Level 2.
Thirteen didn't want to pass up this opportunity to get stronger. Only with strength could he aid his papa in battle!
"Go ahead, even you, Fluffington," Nox said. He didn't mind giving away a few more beast cores to his pets. Besides, it was for a good purpose.
Immediately, the two beasts threw the shiny beast cores into their mouths. Although beast cores were hard with polished, gleaming surfaces, the beasts chewed and swallowed them with ease.
With how hard the beast cores' surfaces were, Nox doubted he could even bite them without his teeth falling off.
'If humans were to consume them too, what would happen? Since the beasts could evolve and get stronger by absorbing these cores, shouldn't it be similar for humans as well?'
Suddenly, Nox was jolted out of his thoughts as he saw a brilliant white light emitting from Thirteen and Fluffington.
Under the glow of the light, Nox watched as Thirteen and Fluffington grew slightly bigger than their original sizes. Previously, Thirteen stood at 3 feet, but now he was 4'1".
Meanwhile, Fluffington, on the other hand, stood at 5'3" from his previous 5 feet. Just one level up and his height had increased by three inches! With the increase in height, Fluffington appeared more domineering and could act as a better mount.
Their physical bodies were not the only things that went through changes, however.
[Mister Fluffington Whiskarious has leveled up!]
[All attributes Strength, Stamina, and Agility +2!]
[Your HP and MP capacity has increased.]
[New skill: Awaken - Humanoid!]
[Skill Description: When activated, Fluffington can stand on his feet like any human for 2 minutes before reverting back to his normal self.]
[Thirteen has leveled up!]
[All attributes Strength, Stamina, and Agility +2!]
[Your HP and MP capacity has increased.]
[New skill: Martial Awareness.]
[Martial Awareness (passive): 30% chance of learning any martial art.]
[Strong! Panda strong!] Thirteen exclaimed, balling his fists. He felt the surge of strength running through his body, making him restless and eager to find enemies.
Fight! He needed to fight someone or something to relieve this feeling, or he might go mad. At that moment, his eyes fell on Fluffington, who was also feeling the surge of strength.
But unlike Thirteen, the elegant cat maintained his composure, even though he was very tempted to test out his new skill [Humanoid] right away.
Thirteen and Fluffington's gazes met, sharing an unspoken agreement. They walked to the center of a clearing, creating a tense atmosphere.
'This... Is Thirteen a battle maniac?' Nox didn't know whether to laugh or cry as he watched Fluffington and Thirteen get ready to fight each other.
Through his connection, he had felt Thirteen's strong urge to fight earlier. It was so intense that the panda could lose his mind if the urge wasn't satiated, which was alarming.
'Is it because of the sudden boost in strength?' Nox hoped it was the latter and not an inherent trait.
For the next thirty minutes, Thirteen and Fluffington went all out! Claws flew through the air as the two creatures fought tooth and nail. In the end, however, Thirteen was still brutally beaten down by Fluffington.
With his new Humanoid skill, the haughty cat became even more arrogant. After all, even if only for a limited time, he could now stand like a human.
Nox's face twitched as he saw the humanoid white cat strutting around with a smug expression, just like a human. Standing at over 5'3", Fluffington now appeared quite imposing. Although Nox was taller, it felt strange to see the once-crawling cat now walking upright.
The Ant Queen watched this sight for a while and concluded that the dynamic between Nox and his pets wasn't bad. From this short observation, she could tell Nox didn't mistreat his pets and actually had a good relationship with them.
Soon after, Nox summoned all his pets back into the taming space and ventured deeper into the dimension to hunt more creatures.
Meanwhile, in the Blight Castle, rumors circulated about the appearance of a higher demon. Given that higher demons were rare and usually resided in the upper sectors of the Demonic Empire, this news was a hot topic among the lower demons.
Many female demons were fascinated by the higher demon, praising his looks and hoping to catch his attention. Given the diverse sizes and shapes of demons, they never thought that he was a five-year-old human kid.
At this moment, in a room near the top floor of Blight Castle, a human-like demon with four arms and pointy horns stared intensely at a group of demons.
It was none other than Snakey, Gorgath, Viper, and Jogo—the same group of demons Nox had first encountered when he entered this dimension.
"I heard you guys were the first to spot the higher demon. Is that true?" the four-armed demon asked, lounging on a seat with two green succubus-type demons on his lap.
"Y-yes," Snakey stuttered, casting a fearful gaze at the large demon ranked No. 2 in the legacy ranking. His name was Goliath, and he was a strong contender for the position of lord in Blight Castle.
Snakey and her group were just peacefully hunting beasts when they were summoned by this formidable figure. Knowing they couldn't afford to refuse his invitation, they rushed over in a heartbeat, fearing the wrath of Goliath, who was known for his short temper.
But the question that loomed above their heads was: Why was Goliath, the rank two demon, looking for the higher demon?
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