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After everyone got their fill over a large dinner of meaty and juicy armored crab claws, the party finally walked back home, where they were greeted by the golem walls of the Igni Kingdom and some of the people.
?
They showed everyone Pete, the new Thunder Millipede Ghost Emperor companion of the prince and princess, his body was immensely large, which intimidated a lot of the people that glanced at him, however, after realizing that he could become intangible, his giant body did not become as intimidating as they had imagined.
"Such a gorgeous specimen, Ghosts are truly wonderful beings, they can be so many types of creatures," said Mysticia.
"Indeed! Welcome to the party, Pete-san!" said Pekoran.
"Woah, he's big, I think I've been outmatched in that regard," said Goliath.
"Draaaaaaaaa…" groaned Draconia.
"I believe that we all have our own special thing that our lords like," said Legion.
"Indeed, don't feel bad, Pete is a rookie compared to us, we have to make him feel welcomed…" said Ozgeth.
"Grryysha…" groaned Pete with a bit of embarrassment over meeting so many senpais.
"Chuu!" groaned Kyuu, he was still not so fond of Pete, and saw him as a rival who was also able to wield electricity as a weapon.
"Kyuu, don't be like that with the little Pete!" said Veronica, as Kyuu stiffened after hearing her roar and sighed, trying to be more friendly with the enormous ghostly millipede.
However, Pete averted its gaze from Kyuu…
"Gryshi" it groaned.
"C-Chuuu?!" roared Kyuu in frustration, it seemed that Pete was not willing to get on good terms with him!
"Will this develop into a rivalry similar to Ivy and Nidhodd?" wondered Ervas.
"Perhaps… though this one is even more ridiculous, they're just fighting because they wield the same type of attacks…" muttered Veronica.
"Anyways, will you two show us the famous ant that everyone is talking about?" asked Ismene at Veronica and Ervas side, they were currently inside of the castle near the entrance, glancing at Kyuu and Pete's interactions.
"Oh, that ant was already moved to the underground, they were given some food, and will be interrogated when he finally wakes up… his family is with him," said Anna.
"It was all pretty confusing, but I think I got a general idea… So you two actually come from a Parallel World from our Kritias… but set in the future, is it?" asked Riaan.
"That's right, Riaan-san. We are from a parallel world… It is becoming a bit boring to explain this all the time…" muttered Ervas.
"Ah! Sorry about that, I was just… I am still rather perplexed" said Riaan as he twitched his raccoon ears atop his head.
"It is amazing that you come from something like that… So parallel worlds exist…! Just how vast is the outside of Kritias? The 'Universe' as you say? I wonder if there are more parallel worlds, and other 'planets' to discover… Well, that's most likely impossible," said Gaius with a bit of interest in the world traveling.
"I don't think it's impossible, but for now, well, it is…" said Ervas.
"I would also like to visit other worlds and met new people… but I bet it will bring a lot of troubles our way, so it's better to stay where we are now and resolve the problems we got here before even considering going anywhere else… Not like we can," said Veronica.
However, although both Ervas and Veronica were realistic in that world-traveling seemed like an impossible dream, they knew that it could become a reality at some point, they simply had to develop their potential even further… through Ervas ability innate to his Bloodline of Dagvaarder Demons, the connection to other worlds seemed possible.
They remember their days on Earth reading many web novels as Veronica, they were always fascinated with the stories of main characters traveling through worlds to discover new challenges, new places, new powers, and new companions.
However, things were too busy already, there was literally no time for something like that at the moment, the only thought of such a thing was too far fetched for their current selves.
"It seems that everyone got a lot of Experience Points… I didn't expect that you would run into a Rank 9 monster… that Pete must have been stronger than what he is now…" said Ismene.
"Indeed, he was rather strong, but the teamwork of everyone managed to defeat him," said Ervas.
"Mostly everyone changed Jobs, but not everyone ranked up, I guess it is normal when their rank is so high, they probably need to defeat several Rank 9 Monsters at this point… Just like us" said Veronica.
"Where can we even find such strong monsters? Are the Labyrinths in the mountains that strong?" asked Anna.
"I don't know. Honestly, we have barely explored the first floors… but it is said that those two dungeons were immensely deep" said Gaius.
"Interesting… Damn, I want to explore more now…" said Veronica.
"Past tomorrow is where we will get going, and that's if the little ant won't slow us down while trying to evade our questions…" said Ervas.
"Don't worry about that, the bastard can't do that, or his soul will be slowly eaten" said Veronica with a happy smile.
"Oh yeah, I guess we shouldn't worry, isn't it?" said Ervas happily.
"They seem oddly happy when they speak about that ant having its soul eaten… He must really be one of the bastards from that time…" said Mysticia.
"Well, yeah, but we have gotten over our grudges at this point… or not, we are simply containing ourselves, we know that we are better than them, pointlessly slaughtering him wouldn't bring us much benefit, it is better to use him as a strong tamed pet," said Ervas.
"Yeah, if we think of him as our tamed pet, we can handle it better…" said Veronica.
"We will make him train very hard," said Ervas.
"Indeed~ We will make him break apart constantly, you can heal him back so he should be fine! Right? Then we can do it as many times as we want until he gets stronger" said Veronica…
"Their eyes… they're shining with a strong bloodlust…" muttered Shade.
"It's less scary than before…" said Gaia.
"Our lords are true to be feared when they get angered! Hm! This is why I feel so proud of following them! Anger is something natural in all intelligent beings, depriving yourself of such natural emotions is simply wrong, those that do not deprive themselves of them but don't let themselves be absorbed by them are truly the most admirable of people" said Lilith.
"…Lilith, I think you're a bit insane too. But I guess we all are at this point, no sane people would be fine with tons of undead walking and floating all around us," said Anna with a bitter smile.
"I wonder if Spirits like us can fall insane?" asked Shade.
"I think that our minds are way too different to feel the same as other living beings," said Gaia.
"There is truth in those words…" said Shade.
"By the way, you two had gotten chunkier, or is it my idea?" asked Veronica, glancing at both Shade and Gaia, who had indeed, become bigger and their appearances had changed slightly more, becoming more defined.
"Indeed, this is most likely because our Spirit Magic Skills had leveled a lot, and our bonds had finally strengthened enough for them to develop into their second phase… it is like aging in a way, you two will grow more mature in appearance," said Ervas.
"Is that… so? I thought that I would just remain as I was… I suppose there are changes that we can undergo when we bond with a mortal" said Shade.
"Ervas, will I become a big girl when I grow up some more?" asked Gaia.
"Perhaps. I remember that in our previous life, all our spirits developed into their adult phase. But it is rumored within the Elven Lore that there is another phase after the fourth… It is even speculated that only the first Spirit Queen managed to reach her spirits to such a level… It was said that when the Spirits reached that level, they became 'Spirit Lords', and 'ascended' in some way" said Ervas.
"Ah! You're right! Now I remember that just when you said it, I guess I never dig deep enough within my memories, even with Memory Retention, it does not mean that my memories are available all the time, it's more like they just are stored books in an immense library, the books can't get lost, but you still need to 'remember' the book to recall the information… I guess it never came to my mind?" wondered Veronica.
"So there are four phases? And which are we?" asked Shade.
"In the second one! You were very tiny before, but now you're as big as an adult dog" said Veronica.
"Indeed, Gaia in specific had developed a lot, she used to be a tiny green bean," said Ervas.
"Ah, she really is such a big girl now!" said Veronica as she 'petted' Gaia, although her hand just went through her ethereal, mana-based body.
"So… it means that if we surpass the fourth phase… Will we transcend…? (Perhaps in that phase I might acquire a tangent body?!)" wondered Shade.
"Kind of, there isn't much info about it other than they just 'transcend'" said Ervas.
"I see…" said Shade.
"Anyways, are you two planning on changing Jobs or what?" asked Anna.
"Oh, right… What should I choose now?" wondered Ervas.
"Something that could help us in fighting, of course, we are going to the mountains to train and get allies after all… Although I wish there could be some Jobs we could max our quickly" said Veronica.
Both glanced at their System windows, selecting the 'Job Change' function.
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The source of this c𝐨ntent is fre𝒆w(e)bn(o)vel