Leveling

As Samuel blocked the demon's attacks, his scythe got duller and duller. Soon, he had to use his magic to block and parry. The demon swung his arm down at Samuel but Samuel swung upwards with his Odachi and sliced off the demon's arm.

"Fuck yeah!" Samuel cried excitedly. He began to barrage the demon with attacks, scratching and chipping away at his body. The demon then front kicked Samuel back causing him to drop his scythe and Odachi.

"You fucking mut! Making me use my full strength against you and your people. Witness true horror!" A massive aura of purple and black energy then spewed out of the demon. It was so sinister. Fermine had already escaped the area. Samuel tries to get up but he was quaking in his shoes. He had never felt such pressure. Such...Such adrenaline! He smiled wide, grinning from cheek to cheek. He slams his right root on the ground then his left. He uses all of his might to stand back up and finally regains his footing.

"Ahh!" He cried out as he arose.

"A resilient rat you are...Now die!" The demon sprung towards Samuel. His claws cut right through his shirt but barely misses Samuel's right obliques. Samuel gets hold of the demon's arm and knees him in the stomach. He swings him up and over, slamming his spine onto a rock.

"Kah!" The demon blurted and spat out a mouthful of green blood.

"Ha...I told you you'd be the victim." Samuel walks up to him and slams his fist into the demon's face. He then continues to stomp his head in. He was going for another one when the demon grabbed him and pulled him down. But he knew this move since he used it on Kaiser so he knew exactly how to defend against it. He clenched the demon's neck and right arm. He squeezed tighter and tighter as his quads crushed the demon's body. The demon had a grip on Samuel's shirt and was slamming his back into the soil but that didn't have an effect on him. Samuel sat up and began to elbow the demon's head. He specifically aimed for his horns too. The horns of a demon are tremendously sensitive and are one of the vital features for demons. Without their horns they can't use their magic, they are physically weakened, and are basically ruined if their horns are very broken or torn off. Knowing this, Samuel kept elbowing the demon's horns.

"Aye, remember how you said you'd give me your soul and power if I did kill you?" Samuel asked him.

"Shut up!" The demon groaned as extreme pain shot through his body. The demon's horns are filled with nerves and pain receptors so they are quite vulnerable if ever struck there.

"Aight then." Samuel then crocodile rolls to his scythe because using the Odachi would be impossible because of its sheer size. He grabs it by the bottom of the blade and the top of the blade then impales the demon through his back. The demon's heat fades and his body goes limp. A dark mist then encapsulates them and they are transported to what seems to be a void. Devoid of light, sound, and touch, but Samuel was still living. His eyes then opened and the demon was sitting in front of him.

"Congratulations, you've successfully killed me. You now have my powers." The demon tells him with a deep sigh.

"Let's go! Woo! Thanks G." Samuel walks up to him and shakes his hand.

"Aight, see ya!" Samuel tells him and is then transported through a black mist to the middle of the woods. A wooden shack stands before him with Fermine gasping for air on the steps.

"Wow you are a fucking pussy. Oh wait..." Samuel tells her.

"Wait, you killed it!?" He asks astonished at how he survived.

"Yeah, he gave me a hard time but I did it. I can summon him if you want."

"No no, I'm fine. Wanna come in?" She offered.

"Sure." Samuel accepts and Fermine leads him inside. When he entered, he immediately felt the presence of 2 weaker demi-humans. A little cheetah boy then runs out of the room along with a tall cheetah man. Both had orange hair and a spotted tail but the man had darker hair. The kid runs up to Fermine and Fermine picks him up. The man then stops and stares at Samuel.

"Honey, who is that?" The man asked.

"Oh, I helped him so he's gonna help me now. I help him get stronger, he helps me get stronger." Fermine tells him.

"Okay, hello sir, my name is Daniel." The man introduces himself and holds his hand out for a handshake.

Samuel accepts and shakes his hand, "Hello, my name is Samuel."

"So, how are you going to be training my wife here?" Daniel asked him.

"Well, there really isn't a lot I can teach her since she's already really skilled. But when we first encountered each other, I did notice some assassin-like elements to her fighting style." Samuel told him.

"Okay, go on." Daniel was intrigued.

"Okay so, I could tell that she's really agile and light on her feet so if she stays consistent with good conditioning, she may be able to be faster than a grade 4 demon just for reference. She wasn't hard to fight though. I've fought grade 6s and they were stronger than her so I don't know. I guess I'll just have to assess her more and see what she's really capable of." Samuel continued.

"Okay, well, you guys do that and I'll watch!" Daniel tells him.

"Alright, follow me outside." They go outside and Samuel flies up to find a good flat area. He sees one not too far and signs them to follow him. He flies over there and the others are right behind him. He lands on the ground and Fermine and her family catch up a few seconds later.

"Don't worry about them, they aren't as athletic." Fermine told Samuel.

"Yeah, I know. Okay, first off, just go all out. Attack me with everything you've got and just go ham!" Samuel instructs her.

"Alright." She gets into a stance and is hopping around a lot. He hands are loose and she is staring him down intensely. She pounces and goes for an insane flurry of attacks. She punches, scratches, and kicks him but it barely phases Samuel. She goes for a leg sweep but Samuel just jumps up. Fermine had to get down low to sweep his legs so when she did, she grabbed a handful of sand to throw into his face. Samuel noticed and slammed his foot into the sand causing a massive dust cloud. He blows away the dust with wind magic and steps back a few meters. When the area clears, Fermine is nowhere to be found but her husband and son are still there.

"Ah, hiding your presence huh? Pretty smart. Good thing you know how to do that. Unfortunately, you're just not very good." Samuel swiftly turns around and holds out his hand. Fermine flies straight into his grasp and Samuel grabs her by the neck. He slams her down into the ground and jumps back as 3 beams of poison shot from the sky.

"You even used a hidden spell?" Samuel stands up straight and thinks for a few seconds then comes up with an idea.

"Okay, I want you to train on your hand to hand combat along with daggers and knives. Use the trees, use fruit, use anything you can just get better physically. Then, I want you to meditate for at least 30 minutes a day trying to keep your mana steadily releasing at a rapid rate. This will build up your control of magic, incantations, and stuff like that. I also want you to work on your explosiveness because I did see some flaws in the way you jumped and pounced. And lastly, start eating more because you do not have the body to keep up with anything stronger than grade 7. Okay, that's all I have. Eat high protein and make sure to eat in a calorie surplus. See ya!" Samuel disappears in a wall of black mist.

Back in Juld, Rya had taken Suzuni, Kaiser, and Lumine to her house. She had a relatively large farmhouse in the fields with a massive garden growing various different fruits and vegetables.

"Welcome guys, take a seat and I'll make you guys some tea." They all sit down on a big black couch and Rya comes back with 4 cups of tea.

"So, how has Samuel been treating you guys?" Rya asks them.

"I've known him for less than a week but he seems like a good guy." Lumine tells her.

"He's an idiot." Suzuni tells her.

"What? How is he an idiot?" Rya asks her.

"Well, he does all this cool and powerful shit but when it comes to other stuff, he acts all stupid. Which doesn't represent his actual intelligence because we saw his IQ on his guild card." Suzuni says.

"Wasn't it like 190 something?" Kaiser asks.

"Yeah." Suzuni answers him.

"Okay."

"He's so annoying too. He just says stupid shit all the time and the things he does bruh. He's always slipping on shit and always trying to tease me or something." Suzuni continued.

"Maybe that's his way of showing love and trust." Rya suggested.

"It clearly isn't because he doesn't act like that to Kaiser or Lumine. He only teases me and acts stupid to me and it's so annoying!"

"Well, maybe he likes you. Maybe that's his love language." Rya tells her.

"I doubt it. He doesn't act romantic at all. He doesn't pay attention to girls at all. All he does is be strong and stupid."

"Wait, how did you and Samuel meet?" Kaiser asked her.

"Well, this is pretty sad but, I met him in the middle of the woods. He was skinny and frail. His skin was fucking dried and his lips were absolutely diabolical. I was 17 at the time. I'm pretty sure he was around 8 years old. I took him under my wing. I gave him food, I taught him, and I made him as strong as he is today." Rya answers him.

"Wow, so you taught him everything?" Lumine asked.

"Yep, while going to school too." Rya adds in.

"Really? I could barely keep him in my home. He'd just talk and talk and talk all night while I was just trying to sleep. I'm pretty sure he didn't sleep one but during his time staying with me." Suzuni tells her.

"Well, he can be a handful sometimes. Anyways, do you guys have a place to stay? It's getting pretty late." Rya asked them.

"No, we've just been hopping from place to place." Kaiser tells her.

"Okay, then y'all can just stay here then." Rya tells them.

"Really?" Lumine asks.

"Yeah, I'll just get you guys some blankets." She goes upstairs and brings down 3 blankets, she hands them out and turns off the lights.

"Alright guys, good night."