EXP: Excreted Perturbation

Azel followed Yroa as they went to the backyard of the house. What was found there was nothing but terror inducing to anyone who witnessed it.

It was a 4 meters tall beast reminiscent of that of a bear with the hide of moss and the bark of trees as its armor. With large jaws and rocky chin, the beast could crush small animals with ease by just bashing its head to the ground.

"Is that a Natural Calamity??" Azel exclaimed, drenched in his own cold sweat.

It wasn't the fact that the beast was here that terrified him.

Instead, it was the fact that the beast was half dead with its body littered by wounds and makeshift traps that were still piercing deep into the core of its bones.

Then again, the majority of its skin wasn't even there anymore.

"You know this creature?" Yroa nonchalantly asked as he fearlessly walked towards the weakened beast.

"... Natural Calamity is a dangerous existence born from a clumped accumulation of natural ohr," Azel explained, still trying to stomach the sight of it. "It will mimic its biome and its surrounding, and its size and power correlate with the amount of ohr that accumulate to produce it."

"I see." Yroa then picked up what appeared to be a makeshift spear with the tip of a fragile obsidian-like material reinforced by heavy and stiff sediments. There were a lot of it, as if it was meant to be a one use item. "How come I couldn't communicate with it if it's made out of natural ohr?"

Azel nervously sneered. "That's because a Natural Calamity is driven by the instinct of destruction, not many of them can process logical information, let alone communication… How did that thing end up like that anyway??"

"This sucker appeared out of nowhere and went on a mindless rampage for hours," Yroa said with a close-eyed smile. A great hint of annoyance could be seen from the twitching corner of his lips. "It took me a whole day to safely weaken it."

"W-why don't you just kill it?" Azel sheepishly proposed. "In case you didn't know, a Natural Calamity is called as such because it's a calamity that brings death and destruction to nature and civilization alike.

"It gets stronger if we let it stay dormant too, since it can instinctively perform a meditation and gather natural ohr to strengthen itself. Although, in this Natural Calamity's case, it's too weak to do that…"

"Interesting~" Yroa then proceeded to stab the beast multiple times, incurring a resisting reaction from it as it tried to lash out with its barely moveable body. "As for why I didn't immediately kill it. It's simple, I gain EXP by doing this."

With every moment Yroa continued to have his violent way with the Natural Calamity, Azel felt an uncomfortable shiver that traveled down his spine.

"... I-I want to puke."

EXP, otherwise rightfully referred as 'Excreted Perturbation', is a form of impure ohr that is harvested through inducing negative reaction and emotion from a sentient existence within the certain range of a Dungeon Core and its dungeon's domain.

Whether it was from making the person to feel fear, anger, or disgust and the likes—the soul would excrete an impure and evil essence of ohr itself, relative to the presence and condensation of ohr that the victim possessed.

This means that the higher the beings within the height of existence, the more EXP that a Dungeon Core can acquire after subjecting them into the challenge, unpredictability, and perturbing nature of the dungeon.

"Of course," Yroa said as he attentively witnessed the amount of notification for the EXP acquisition that was appearing right now. "Simply inflicting pain and inducing perturbation won't do the trick. I also found out that the more positive emotion and reaction that I induce before subjecting them to excrete the negative one, it results in more EXP that I can gain." Yroa then sinisterly glanced back, still smiling. "Like how I did to you."

"HIIIKH-!!"

The amount of EXP that Yroa gained from Azel alone had already reached more than 800 points, even with the 50% debuff that was gained from not having a dungeon nearby. 

It was certainly a much more efficient method than subjecting pain to beasts and the likes.

And even now, Azel was still sending an extraordinary amount of EXP points in his current state.

[EXP: -47,201.8]

Certainly, it would still take a while until Yroa could finally make his own dungeon at this rate.

Hence why he needed to get stronger, to get to know more of the world and the connections within it, so that he could induce negative emotion and reaction to as many strong beings as possible.

To do this, he needed a reliable guide and servant that would follow every step that he takes, a subservient comrade that would at least reveal the danger of the unknown before he could safely tread on them.

"Say, Azel~" Yroa left his makeshift spear sticking out of the beast's violated eye socket, as he slowly approached Azel with his usual smile and friendly demeanor. "I really want to 'actualize' this passion to as many people as possible, but there's nobody in this world that can understand me better than you~"

Yet, even with that demeanor, the blaring ominous darkness coming from his words were enough to hyperventilate someone.

Terrified, Azel instinctively walked backward, until he slipped and fell on his back. He then attempted to crawl out while facing the devil that was slowly approaching him, ensuring that this evil incarnate remained within his sight and his sight only.

For he feared that the moment this devil disappeared out of sight, was the moment where the unspeakable would happen to him.

After all, there was nothing terrifying than the implied danger of the unknown.

[+20(50%)=10 EXP gained]

"I-I don't know what you mean!"

"You know, Azel, the clothes that you're wearing right now, I skinned it off from the Natural Calamity while it's still energetically writhing underneath my sole~" Yroa's smile widened as he nonchalantly grabbed the makeshift spear and threw it, landing it on the ground right beside where Azel's head was currently positioned. "It's warm, no? I wonder if it will be as warm if you don't have your skin anymore. Maybe it will be itchy, so you need to use your nails to sever some of your veins to remove that very itch."

[+40(50%)=20 EXP gained]

"Maybe I will personally remove all of your nails as an extra. One, by one, I'll break off the center of its carapace before gently peeling the shards with my bare hands."

[+60(50%)=30 EXP gained]

"That is, if you happen to possess any urge to defy me~" Yroa eerily giggled. Using his own face as a provocative tool to bring out the inner masochistic potential of Azel, and then conflicting it with the utter terror that he was inflicting on him. "Azel, you're but a fertile soil that can harbor all sorts of seeds within you. 

"And as its owner, you're free to select all kinds of ecosystems that dwell in it." Yroa stopped smiling, showcasing the worst stare of disapproval that someone could ever show in their disgust. "I don't like that. That is too much freedom for someone who lives and eats at my house, and you know what would happen if you get on my bad side, no?

At this point, Azel was on the verge of passing out from the stress. But before he could, Yroa grabbed him by the neck and leaned his friendly face right in front of Azel's vision, taking up all of the frame.

That sinister half-lidded gaze with the face that could weaken any man if they were exposed to it this closely—it was enough to engrave an everlasting memory that would never unlatch from someone's heart and soul.

Then once again, Yroa smiled.

"Simply become mine and abide by everything that I say." Yroa then tilted his head, casting his smile evermore. "Okay~?"

Crying and drooling from all of the conflicting emotions that he was having, Azel could only fearfully answer one thing.

"... Yes-!"

And thus, his fate was immediately sealed the moment he decided to slightest devote himself towards this wicked existence.

Not long after, Azel passed out.

"I think I went overboard," Yroa chuckled. He then proceeded to carry the poor Dream Devourer with his shoulder, hauling him back to his bed. "I wonder if I get any EXP if I induce someone into a nightmare. This dude went haywire with the EXPs he gave at the last seconds, really tempts me to really make him suffer~"

Yroa then checked the amount of EXP that he had once again.

[EXP: -46,890.4]

After Yroa secured the traumatized Dream Devourer in the same room that he had woken up to, he returned to his daily activity of mining, experimenting with herbs and poison, exercising, hunting, and all sorts of things that would improve his capability shown by the Basic Appraisal.

And since those were the things that he actually wanted to do for the sake of merely doing it, Yroa slowly started to gain the Essence of Actualization to improve his Layered Vitality, getting him closer to the day where he could do some cool things with his ohr.

As the morning shifted into afternoon, Yroa went back to his beloved house with a satisfied smile on his face.

"Mmm, it might be best if I exit this region and get somewhere that is more densely populated with high Lvl-ed people." He said as he changed his apprentice clothing set to homemade clothes that he crafted using local materials and hides of his hunted prey. "Then again, I still haven't laid my hands on some of the big predators."

It was unknown whether this region had already been known or named by a larger societal civilization out there, but Yroa liked to refer to the Reversed Lake Mountain, meadows, glades, rivers, and the forestry surrounding it under the name of the Soil of Beginning.

Likewise, all Yroa had been doing was mostly hunting and taking down some of the small to medium sized mammals and reptilian creatures for the past two weeks, since he still didn't know the full extent of the stronger and more menacing beast of this region.

One of those apex creatures was a 10 meters tall bear-like beast with its forelegs visibly emitting constant electricity, which then traveled to all of its fur in a geometric pattern, creating a dangerous field of death to any animals that came near.

There was also the occasional raid from a flock of big flying serpentine creatures that were terrorizing the local herds. Yroa saw them inject miasmatic venom directly to their prey as the ghastly fume of death bubbles underneath the skin before it fully took out the consciousness of the victim.

Obviously, Yroa would shrug most of those pains like it was nothing, but if it resulted in the death of his Living Vessel, it would be better to just challenge them when he possessed enough expertise and strength to hunt them.

"I really need better weapons." Yroa uttered as he prepared a meal for himself, since it would take a while for Azel to wake up after the traumatic event that had just been inflicted to him. "And maybe some Martial Arts, now that Azel mentioned it in his explanation for the Cultivation methods."

Yroa was certainly not a fighter back then on Earth. Sure, he went to the gym to keep his body in tip top shape, but anything more than some self-defensive techniques was out of Yroa's expertise.

Although, he quite heavily trained in Judo and Silat for the most part, but only the basics. Since again, he didn't have any reason to devote himself further beyond self-defense in a world where guns and tasers can solve most of the problem.

But now, the situation is different. He needs to get stronger and there might be more humanoid entities that he needs to face in the future. 

Not to mention, there was also a great possibility of meeting a fellow sinner who got themselves some overpowered vessels and blessings.

All in all, if magical spells and supernatural feats were outside of his reach, then learning proper martial arts would be an utter blessing for him.

Afterall, not everything can be settled peacefully.

"Maybe I should strengthen my foundation first," Yroa muttered as he ate his dinner. "I can also get Azel to teach me how to control ohr, and maybe how to do that self-enhancement spell that he used to steal my canteen back then."