Chapter 28

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

In the darkness, the noise slowly approached them but strangely enough, there was no visible figure around to match the sound.

Suddenly, the ground near the tree hole cracked open, and out came a dark shadow crawling toward them. Its goal was clear. It did not intend to attack the sleepy Li Changsheng and Ai Xi but wanted to steal the package beside them.

At that moment, Li Changsheng suddenly opened his eyes. He was on high alert and was ready to pounce.

When the shadow grabbed the package, Li Changsheng quickly concentrated his omniscience and an invisible omniscience barrier appeared, blocking the shadowy figure.

The dark shadow stopped in its tracks immediately, not because it wanted to but because the invisible barrier in front of it got in the way.

It was obviously taken aback and tried to escape without a second thought.

At the same time, Ai Xi finally reacted and immediately took action. After crawling out of the tree hole, it rushed toward the shadow.

Tiger-type demons often had good night vision and were extremely sensitive to sound and smell.

Therefore, Ai Xi was able to pinpoint the position of the shadowy figure even in the dark.

By the time Li Changsheng crawled out of the tree hole, Ai Xi had already pinned down the dark shadow, making it unable to escape.

Li Changsheng could not see in the dark, but his external omniscience was able to capture the shadow’s appearance and characteristics.

It was a large rodent-type demon about half a meter long, dirt brown colored with bulging cheeks, aquamarine eyes, and two huge teeth on its upper and lower gums. It looked like a huge hamster, but one so big that it would make people think they were hallucinating.

Demon Name: Gopher (Mature Stage)

Demon level: Lower 9th Order

Demon Class: Middle-class Servant

Demon Grade: Medial Grade

Demon Bloodline: Giant Rat Bloodline (Weak Quality)

Demon Type: Earth-type

Demon Condition: Healthy 

Demon Weakness: Wood

Gophers were not good at attacking but usually played supporting roles. Due to their delicious meat, they became the target of human hunts which led to their scarcity and were rarely encountered in the wild.

Giant Rats: They are huge rats that live around snow, weigh a thousand catties, and have edible meat. Clothing made out of their fur is excellent for protecting against the cold. The sound from a drum made out of its skin could travel thousands of miles, and its hair could attract other rodent types.

From the bloodline point of view, Giant Rats were far inferior compared to White Tigers. However, they were considered as part of the mythical monster’s bloodline which meant that they had magical abilities. As for that Gopher, there was a possibility that it inherited some of the abilities of the Giant Rats.

After getting the information on the Gopher, Li Changsheng was stunned to discover that it was his first encounter with a rare wild demon. To say the least, he was a little excited.

Although the Gopher had the Giant Rat bloodline, it did not meet Li Changsheng’s contract requirements, despite being more valuable than the ordinary medial grade demon.

From a level point of view, although the Gopher had a higher level compared to Ai Xi, it did not have the upper hand and was easily suppressed.

After Li Changsheng came out, the Gopher became noticeably more nervous. This type of demon was notoriously timid, nocturnal, and afraid of humans as well as other demons.

Ai Xi saw the opportunity and seized it. While the Gopher was stunned, with its tail like a steel whip, it turned and savagely swatted the Gopher into the distance, smashing it onto a big tree.

Bang~

The big tree shook violently, shaking off countless green leaves. 

Squeak~

Just when Ai Xi closed in for the kill, the Gopher struggled to get up from the ground. With its eyes full of annoyance, its cheeks bulged and it made a very sharp sound.

Under the harsh sound, Ai Xi’s expression scrunched up in pain. Not only was it forcibly interrupted, its mind went completely blank, making it stop in place.

Li Changsheng who was nearby did not suffer as much and only felt some buzzing in his ears. Fortunately, he was far away enough and was able to quickly escape the effects of the sound waves.

Before Ai Xi recovered, the Gopher did not take the opportunity to escape. Its limbs began to glow with khaki brilliance, pouring into the earth continuously.

In an instant, the ground beneath Ai Xi changed suddenly. The soil quickly became sandy and began to flow rapidly, causing Ai Xi’s limbs to sink into the quicksand immediately.

Under the constraints of the quicksand, Ai Xi was obviously affected. Although Ai Xi struggled hard, it could not break free from the shackles of quicksand.

“Quicksand Hell!”

Li Changsheng squinted his eyes slightly and was even more surprised. 

Quicksand Hell was an advanced skill for Gophers and was very difficult to learn.

After trapping Ai Xi, the Gopher opened its mouth. Countless khaki light spots concentrated on the spot immediately. Finally, a beam of earth-type energy shot out from its mouth.

“Earth Quake!” Just like Quicksand Hell, Earth Quake was also an advanced skill for Gophers, and it was the strongest offensive skill for Gophers with powerful destructive power.

“This is bad, Ai Xi! Use Whirlwind!”

At the most critical moment, Ai Xi’s body was covered with light cyan wind energy, as if it had put on a windbreaker. Ai Xi took advantage of the weakened Quicksand Hell and managed to break free, dodging quickly toward the side.

At the moment of escape, Earth Quake was millimeters away from Ai Xi and landed on the quicksand.

Boom~

With a deafening bang, the area around the quicksand exploded fiercely with quicksand spurting everywhere, turning the surrounding into a muddy mess.

“Claw Tear, now!” To avoid killing the Gopher, Li Changsheng did not dare to let Ai Xi launch a stronger type of claw attack.

Enhanced by the Whirlwind, Ai Xi rushed toward the Gopher, lunging its claws forward in an instant.

Squeak~

The Gopher could not escape in time and was square on the back by Ai Xi. 

The Gopher felt a fierce pain and a deep and bloody tear mark appeared on its back with blood spilling from it, staining the ground red.

Bang~

After struggling a few times, the Gopher fell to the ground feebly. It did not continue to struggle and cut a pitiful figure.

Li Changsheng went toward the Gopher and said in a superior way, “If you want to live, then relax your body and establish a temporary binding contract with me!”

Contrary to Li Changsheng’s expectations, the cowardly Gopher nodded hurriedly and began to cooperate with him the instant it was offered a chance of survival.

Soon, the temporary binding contract was established and turned into a unique mark, imprinting itself on the Gopher’s head.

Unlike cardinal binding contracts and blood binding contracts, there was no limit to the number of temporary binding contracts a demon tamer could make and demons would not give any backlash to a demon tamer if it died.

However, there were also shortcomings for temporary binding contracts. Demon pets bound with these contracts could not establish a mental connection with the demon tamers and therefore would not be able to give the demon tamers feedback, making it difficult for them to work together perfectly.

In addition to that, they could not be placed into the demon pet inventory.

Although no limits were imposed on the number of temporary demon pets and one could form a demon wave attack with that, the disadvantages were obvious. Temporary demon pets still needed food and required a lot of resources and energy every day, making it an arduous but fruitless chore.

Gophers: Earth-type, rare demon, timid personality, good at digging holes, weak fur protection.

Class Characteristics: Ground Power (Enhances earth-type abilities)

Basic skills: Bite, Claw Tear, Sand Attack, Hole Bore, Mud Shoot

Advanced Skills: Quicksand Hell, Earth Quake, Claw Crush, Bite Crush

Genetic Skills: Supersonic Sound

This Gopher was different from ordinary Gophers because of its Giant Rat bloodline. Therefore, it also inherited a special Supersonic Sound from the Giant Rats which could forcibly interrupt the opponent’s moves as well as temporarily restrain the opponent’s actions.

With Galen’s curing powers, the Gopher soon regained its ability to move.

However, instead of getting up, it touched its shriveled belly and revealed a pair of pitiful eyes.

Even though no mental connection was established, Li Changsheng understood the gopher’s thoughts and shook his head with a wry smile. Then he poured a bowl of sweet demon food for it.

The Gopher wiggled its nose and its eyes lit up. Ignoring Ai Xi’s contemptuous gaze, the Gopher immediately buried his head in the bowl. Since it was a native and wild demon, that was its first time eating such delicious food so it gobbled it down ravenously.

“Looks like someone’s hungry! No wonder you came and tried to steal my bag!” When Li Changsheng saw the Gopher’s behavior, he finally understood its actions.

After they packed up everything, Li Changsheng ignored the Gopher and went back to the tree hole, holding Ai Xi as he fell into a deep sleep.