Demonic Devourer's Development

My plans, at their current stage, as far as revenge went, were simple. I needed more power, much more power, and for that, I needed to eat. As simple as that. Since adventurers didn't seem to be a good source of abilities, that left me with monsters. And if I needed to remove any of my abilities in the future, I would use that opportunity to test out Pest's possibilities.

For now, I was happy enough to have him as a personal encyclopaedia, and even that when I couldn't ask Rosha the same thing. She was very knowledgeable about monsters, and especially about what materials you could get from them.

As for how to get to Heaven, Rosha told me that clerics and wizards are most likely to have spells in their class abilities that would be even close. Clerics because many of their spells summoned energies and creatures from Heaven in battle, and wizards because they had the most of different spells in general.

For now, that was still far away from me, and I focused on the more familiar part of my plans—the hunt. In total, I spent about three weeks preparing for the next expedition, while Rosha sucked me dry from both ends. She was the most enthusiastic in bed when she wasn't worrying about money, and that meant that I had to spin a lot of web.

She paid for it not just with her body, though, but with her crafts as well. Thanks to her I had now not just one, but two silk shirts—one Teren's, one from my own silk, pants. She made me new boots and fitted for me a leather bag big enough for all my new things that I could wear on my belt where it wouldn't mess with my wings. I got a new dagger from her, a proper dagger, instead of the kitchen knife I used as my second weapon before.

In short, Rosha geared me up to the full.

Risha kept manning Rosha's shop, more and more often as Rosha became busy with weaving and tailoring, especially when first buyers came to buy her wares out of spider silk, sometimes getting other items on their way. Despite all Rosha's fears, Risha was just fine, both on her own and with me. She was a cute girl.

I'd sleep with her if I didn't know that if I, as she told, blink at her wrong, Rosha would do her best to kill me. Since I enjoyed sleeping with her, and since she was so useful as a provider of my equipment and information on the mortal realm, I had to hold my urges on that account. It was just impossible to have everything, but I could have a lot.

The investigation about Teren's disappearance, just as I expected, ended up with nothing. Some speculated that he run away from home for one reason or another, some that he was kidnapped—but no one got even close to the truth.

In my free from spinning the webbing time I enjoyed many delicious foods and drinks, and hunted near Glesk. Goats were easy now, since with the strength of a human body I could just snatch them out of a herd as easily as plucking carrots out of the garden.

Dogs didn't get so wild about me as they did when I was a kobold. That allowed me to get into the animal sleeping places at night and feast on horses and cows as long as I slipped the dogs some poisoned meat first.

These big animals were packed with EXP, and in three weeks I got loads of it, but I didn't put them into any abilities yet. If I could know what I was up against, and I planned to know, I would pick abilities that best suited me against the prey I would pick.

After this, it was just a question of finding said prey. What monsters lived where and where they were right now. There was, sadly, only one place to ask—the one I wasn't keen on visiting again, not with knowing who was behind it. Even if the gods appeared to be removed far from the Guild, they were still somewhere on top of it.

"They don't give access to all reports to non-members, anyway," Rosha noted when I spoke with her. "You must become an adventurer to get access to quest boards. If you want to know, ask someone who's already in there."

"Already there… what about someone new? How does the Guild control the adventurers?"

"Technically, anyone above sixteen can become an adventurer, for free. The training costs money, though. Most pick magical classes because you don't need much skill to throw magic arrows from a staff, but without adventuring training, your chances of early death are still sky high." Rosha huffed. "But the Guild never cared for something like this."

"Then, if you enter the Guild, you must make a bring in a certain amount of fulfilled quests or hunted monsters, or your rank goes down. And if you are already at Bronze Five, then you get thrown out. Your class will stay with you, but the Guild's entrance contract doesn't allow to use class benefits if you aren't officially a member."

I hummed thoughtfully. "I can't risk becoming an adventurer if these bastards who call themselves gods give out the classes. They might just kill me on the spot instead. But…"

"But?" Rosha narrowed her eyes.

"But I wonder… if someone else enters the Guild, and then brings in the trophies I get them… we'd be able to split quest rewards…"