Death... and me

Of course, Roan had no intention to stop in Pol Continent. Following that, he looked into the information regarding undersea cities. Sure enough, the worker from the guild wasn't wrong. The only city that Utari Mercenary Guild left available for One Star Mercenaries was Salt Canyon City. 'No wonder the worker before said that they only knew of this one city. He simply didn't have access to information about others.'

However, Roan's mouth twitched when he looked into the distance. 'They weren't kidding when they said the closest one was extremely far away. Kentucky crossed ten thousand kilometers in two days by flying leisurely. If he really put in the effort without expending himself, he should be able to do this distance in half a day or less. However... Salt Canyon Undersea City is 630000 kilometers away. Even if nothing wrong occurs along the journey, Kentucky would still take over a month to arrive.'

Naturally, that wasn't all. Roan didn't have any specific details. However, he was at least able to tell that humanoid races passing through the territories of aquatic demon beasts usually didn't go well. Humanoid races would definitely try to take the journey by flying. However, there was no lack of demon beasts at the Transition Realm and beyond who kept their eyes on the skies as well.

Of course, Roan knew that if Rean kept his Light and Divine Sense bending skill activated all the time, they most likely wouldn't be found. However, he had no intention of doing such a thing. 'Well, that's not a bad thing. It will serve as training for Rean, Kentucky, and me. I still haven't tested my powers at the Elemental Transformation Realm for long enough.' Roan also thought about throwing Luan, Rafatia, and Falangia into the lower-level aquatic demon beasts to see how they would fare.

Those three same people felt a chill on their backs as he thought that, even though they didn't know why.

Suddenly, Roan found a piece of information that looked nothing important. However, that caught a lot of his attention. 'The Dark Viperfish Spirits' territory? Seems like even the aquatic demon beasts don't like to pass through that place.' The information stated that those Dark Viperfish Spirits fed on other living beings' life forces. However, they were a true spirit race with intelligence and not some dead ghosts that moved by instinct. They looked like eels but had terrifying faces.

As always, the main problem was that spirits could stay invisible to demon beasts and humanoid races who weren't strong enough. A lot of them died in that region, so the information available for Roan said to avoid that area at all costs. 'It's quite unfortunate it doesn't say anything else. It doesn't say their strength, the most dangerous areas inside their territory, or anything relevant. This One Star Badge is just too useless.'

Roan then pondered over it for a bit and reached a decision. 'I guess I'll pay a visit to these Dark Viperfishes. Rean could see faeries, so I might be able to see these Dark Viperfishes. In any case, we have Luan to tell us if some of them appear even if I can't see them.'

After looking into some other information, Roan decided to take a look at the Mercenary Mission Board. There was only one way to increase his mercenary rank, and that was by completing missions. 'For me to be promoted, I need to complete at least five missions at my own level. One's strength doesn't matter. However, I can't take any missions at Two Stars or above before reaching that rank. That's their way of guaranteeing a certain percentage of success for the guild's customers.'

That made sense. If someone who couldn't even complete One Star Missions took a Two Star Mission, they would probably waste the customer's time. That wasn't good for the mercenary, for the guild, and especially the customer.

Roan then looked through the mission board and quickly noticed that the majority of missions were indeed inside the sea. There were a few directed at the uninhabited islands as well. However, they were less than 10% of the missions available. Let alone the fact that one had to travel there, so one would travel across the sea nevertheless.

Roan then took a few One Star Missions and called Luan over. "Your test starts tomorrow, so I'll bring you somewhere else to train while I go out and complete these missions."

"To train? Where?" Luan was obviously curious.

"You'll see," Roan said in response.

Roan then told Rean what he would do before taking Luan in his arms. Once he got a little far from the city, he accessed the Soul Gem Dimensional Realm and pulled Kentucky out. "Come on, I was sleeping in my nest."

Roan couldn't care less. "Stop the bullshit, and let's go. I need to complete a few missions. You can have more of the Demon Cores later."

That was enough of an incentive for Kentucky. "Really? Great! Let's go!" He quickly let Roan and Luan jump on his back before taking flight after that.

Kentucky then flew to an uninhabited island not too far from Utari. However, that was only a stop.

Roan then threw Luan onto the ground. "Here you go. When I looked into a piece of information, I saw that the people of Utari liked to bring their kids to this island as the sea around has a lot of Stage Two Demon Beasts."

Roan was right. With his Divine Sense, Roan could see a few hundred kids between 6 and 10 years old. Most of them had some adult to protect their lives, but there were a few who were left alone as well. "Your mission is to kill and gather 20 Demon Cores. I already told you how to use a spatial ring, and there are a few Rank One Divine Stones inside. Use them to replenish your strength if you run out. I should be back in six to ten hours."

Before Luan could say or ask anything, Kentucky took flight again and shot into the distance, leaving Luan completely alone. However, he also received a Divine Sense message from Roan. 'If you complete the task, I'll let you choose what dessert you want for tonight.'

Luan's eyes lit up as his fear completely disappeared. "Puddinggggggggggggg!!!!!!!!!" With that, he threw himself inside the water without thinking twice. With his eyes, no demon beast could hide from him.