Devil's Rise
/ Devil's Rise 17 The Badge
"When a completion level Knight demon beast breaks through to the Baron realm in a Knight camp that is a major incident. If that happened it would mean our management has let the public down!"
"The public depends on us to maintain a safe and prosperous area for them to visit. So we must quickly eliminate all hazards."
"You can not assist with this yet but I do want you to help me survey the Esquire area of the Hazel Canopy. It might take you a few weeks to finish surveying but it will be the best contribution you can make to the camp for now."
~Why do you always have to have a long winded monologue?~
James was sitting trying to enjoy his meal as Mikael droned on and on. Mikael spoke of what he expected from James the next few weeks. Since James was not a Knight yet he could only take on such meager tasks in the Knight camp.
James was truly motivated to become a Devil Knight now. Since Mikael had become a Devil Knight our young devil hero was far from being able to best him!
~I'll double, no i'll triple my devilry practice. How could I fall behind such a righteous prick! This young master has plenty of fel shards, all I need is hard work to improve my devilry.~
The camp grounds themselves were crude towns. With gloomy wooden rooftops, felstone walls, and overgrown vegetation, Hazel Canopy Knight camp had a bizarre atmosphere.
Camp grounds had flourishing tourist traffic usually, but this one had been neglected. Mikael planned to get this camp ground back on track.
James got his rooming accommodation all set and begin preparing for his next moves. His hut looked old, but wonderful. It had been built with white stones and had yellow pine wooden decorations.
Small squared windows brightened the house. The hut was equipped with an old-fashioned kitchen and one large bathroom, a snug living room, and two bedrooms. James would call this place home for two years. It was his first place he'd live in, outside of his parents house.
James next goal was to forge a soul orb as well as a resentment weapon. His Soulflame qi was now powerful enough to temper these two armaments and he was skillful enough in Blacksmithing to take up the task.
James went to the Hudson clan base the next day to trade for the required materials. They were Tier 1 materials so they weren't hard for him to gather.
~Soon I will have a soul orb and can formally began truly practicing the Soul Dao!~
James was beyond excited, he spent the next few days finally forging his soul orb and resentment weapon.
James actually hit a snag forging the soul orb. The soul orb was not like a blacksmith weapon, for this type of devil armament James had to carve formations into the materials for it to function properly.
James had no knowledge of the Formation Dao, it was an important Dao used in crafting. The instructions he had said that the formations to be carved in the soul orb were rudimentary and not difficult to create, one need not have dwelt into the Formation Dao to create this low level soul orb.
James found the aspects of the Formation Dao interesting as he crafted the soul orb. He definitely believed he would learn it one day considering it's usefulness in crafting things. Most higher level blacksmiths were privy to the Formation Dao as powerful weapons would require formations to be carved into them.
People within the first three realms of cultivation could not learn the Formation Dao, it was simply beyond them. Higher Daos like the Formation Dao had many Dao branches. Just like the Blacksmith Dao was a part of the Craftsman Dao. Formation Dao was simply too complicated for low level cultivators to learn.
Even if he could learn the Formation Dao James would not spend time on it. He had fallen behind Mikael in devilry so he could only focus on the Dao he was good at already to increase his devilry.
If he spent months learning another Dao he would only fall further behind. With his soul orb and resentment weapon in tow James then looked at the survey mission he had received from Mikael.
James was to investigate a clearing which was supposed to have high tier Esquire level demon beasts. If any of the prey demon beasts were above high level Esquire then James was tasked with relocating them. James quickly suited up into his new uniform for the next two years.
The Hudson ranger uniform had a long sleeved, brown clothed jacket. On the jacket were two badges, one side had his name 'James Hudson' and on the other side it had an emblem of the Hudson clan.
On the badge emblem it included the writing 'Esquire Forest Ranger'. Underneath the jacket laid a lightly colored dress shirt and dark tie. His pants comfortable and tan and his shoes dark.
James also had a mountie hat, he thought it looked pretty cool. With this uniform he was now officially a Wesser forest ranger. A Wesser forest ranger was tasked with keeping the peace in the forest. A few of their common duties were law enforcement, rescuing, administration, path management, interpretation, firefighting, and education.
~I now have authority! People visiting our Knight camp will have to respect my authority!~
The uniform quickly went to James' head. He had never been given so much authority from an organization before.
Simply wearing the uniform of a ranger, James now had broad powers when dealing with visitors to the Knight camp area. ~I will abuse these powers well!~
Before he could find time to abuse his powers he was skirted off to start surveying. Mikael wanted him to begin his tasks as soon as possible. The camp ground would not straighten itself out. Everyone had to do their part.
James was responsible for surveying a clearing and ensuring the demon beasts were of the correct level.
James read over the map, this clearing was home to several different types of demon beasts. The most populous were the capybara demon beasts. These large rodent demon beasts could be found in groups as large as 100 individuals, but usually lived in groups of 10-20 individuals.
They were semi-aquatic spending much time in the local water holes. After looking over the groups James documented them on his sheet. He found 16 different groups the first day and named and cataloged each of them. None of them had any completion level Esquire demon beasts.
James could tell at a glance the cultivation of the demon beasts. Demon beast cultivation involved evolution. At each level demon beasts would gain particularly new traits. James had information concerning capybara demons and what traits to look for in completion level ones.
Higher level demon beasts became unique, very different from their low level counterparts. Their looks, their auras, and their demeanor would all be unique to them. It might be even difficult to tell a high level rodent type demon beast started out as a capybara. That was just how much demon beast evolution changed them.
The Wesser forest was a real forest containing a thriving ecosystem. There were prey demon beasts as well as predator demon beast species. Most prey species were usually docile unless provoked. James did not have any difficulties documenting the capybara demon beast groups.
He was quick to be alert to predators. Predatory demon beast species were the ones likely to attack you unprovoked. Jaguar, puma, ocelot, eagle, caiman, and rarely anaconda, these were the demon beast predators that were common in this area.
Capybara were their favorite food. After a few days James felt he was almost done documenting the capybaras. He was some what upset that he had not ran into any predators yet. James was itching to try his skill in combat!
~I thought I would have found one by now. I guess I haven't been sneaky enough.~
Predators were cunning. They preyed on capybaras not humanoid races. James was in the Esquire area, so most demon beasts here were weak. They would do well to avoid humanoids if they hoped to evolve and become strong.
One day James came across a completion level Esquire capybara.
"It's wrangling time!"
The capybara was alone away from the pack. James could tell it was completion level Esquire because the color had started to change on the tips of it's fur.
Whenever prey species reached the completion level Esquire realm the rangers would move them to the Knight area. Though they were not dangerous when unprovoked the Hudson clan didn't want accidents happening to visitors.
Throughout the camp grounds demon beasts had to be kept in their proper areas according to their cultivation.
James pulled out his standard issue ranger lasso. Growing up members of the Hudson clan had all practiced wrangling demon beasts. It was one of the core skills to be a good forest ranger. James saw himself as the best wrangler. Though only he saw that. James saw himself as the best at everything.
As soon as James began chasing the capybara, it did what capybaras do. It fled to the nearest watering hole!
It was a small mud hole, James didn't think much of it after a cursory glance.
He threw the lasso over the capybara and began pulling it out of the mud hole. As he came closer to the shore attempting to pull the capybara out he noticed what seemed like a log moving in the murky waters.
Before James could react, The log striked latching on to James with six rows of teeth and quickly coiling itself around the devil. The log turned out to be an anaconda!
There was no escape from it's grasp! Anacondas are not snakes that kill with venom, they constrict their prey. It began to tightly wrap itself around James. The anaconda would eat good tonight, it had found unsuspecting prey. Our devil hero was in dire straits!
Chapter end
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