25 Monsters

Shen passed a Fake Temple on his way to the cave. Although he knew this was a Fake Temple, Shen was stunned by its quality. Vines surrounded the Temple, its statues and wall carvings. While his eyes wandered around the building, Shen's ears caught something in the distance.

\"Hey, you sure someone knows about this Fake Temple?\", a male voice said. \"Yea, I'm sure, now get moving, will you?\", a female voice replied. Shen's interest piqued, he intended to listen in on their conversation a bit more.

[Use stealth mode? Yes/No?]

Shen didn't have time to curse at the machine. He simply whispered \"Yes\", and masked his presence. Shen quickly climbed one of the trees, and listened in.

\"I have a reliable source. The guy told me he caught Victor and the kid talking to a Water Kingdom noble. If news gets out, our economy will collapse!\" The female spoke. Shen looked towards the Temple, and noticed the pair coming closer. The man had a well-chiseled body, while his face looked tough but handsome. His head was full of black hair, trimmed just enough not to obstruct his eyes.

The woman on the other hand, wore a white mask devoid of any features. Other than the opening for her mouth and eyes, nothing else was there to be seen. Her tanned arms were visible thanks to the pure white and blue sleeveless dress she wore. Her white cloak fluttered in the light breeze, giving her more charm.

[Threat analysis? Yes/No?]

Shen glanced at the message before muttering \"Yes\". As soon as he accepted, another message popped up.

[???: Middle Apprentice Class.]

[???: Higher Mortal Class.]

Shen looked at the two, as if looking at some sort of beasts. Even the weaker of the two, was a level higher than him. 'These guys are stronger than me, better stay quiet and observe. I wonder what they're up to?' Shen asked himself.

\"Let's just get this over with,\" The male said looking at the masked female.

\"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Whatever you say.\" The masked woman replied while rolling her eyes.

Once they stood in front of the Fake Temple, the woman cast a spell. Without any noise, the Temple slowly faded into nothingness. As if it was never there. What appeared in its place, was a deep pit filled to the brim with bodies. Some of the bodies were completely rotten, others seemed fairly fresh 'That can mean only one thing. This has been going on for a long time.' Shen thought.

The smell was appalling. He could smell the bodies from where he stood. The sudden urge to vomit overwhelmed him. 'How could humans do something like this!? They aren't humans, they are monsters!' Shen exclaimed in his mind.

He tried his best to stay quiet, but it wasn't easy for him. All sorts of emotions flooded his mind. Sorrow, for the lives that were lost. Anger, for what others were capable of. Then there was disgust, pure disgust from the sight he saw. Shen held back his feelings and watched the scene unfold.

\"There, nothing's been touched. Now, put up the barrier before someone sees us,\" The man said looking out into the forest.

\"Alright.\" She placed the barrier back up, and both of them walked back where they came from. Shen waited with bated breath for them to leave. Once they were out of sight, he let out a sigh of relief.

[Attack Imminent] Shen almost got a heart attack, when the message appeared in front of him. He quickly jumped off of the tree, and into some bushes beneath. He was barely able to avoid a bolt of lightning slamming into the tree, charring it to a crisp.

\"Why did you do that?\" The masked woman asked, confused.

\"Shhh! I feel like someone here.\" The man said, placing his hand on the woman's mouth.

'How did he know?\" Shen held his breath and waited for them to leave.

\"You're so paranoid you know? If there was anyone, you'd sense their energy already\" The woman said frustrated.

\"Yeah, I guess you're right. Just in case, do me a favor and cast a locator spell on the area before we leave.\" The man responded.

'Shit! Shit! Shit!' Shen needed to get out of there, and fast. The problem was the lack of a way out. He knew that running out into the open was pointless. They would catch up to him before he could get anywhere.

Shen's mind sieved through multiple possibilities, but none of them seemed viable. He just waited with bated breath, while the woman chanted the spell. Suddenly a blue flash illuminated the forest surrounding all three.

Shen felt a chill up his back and thought 'this is it where I die! I'm sorry Shu I'll make it up in my next life!'

\"Nothing,\" The woman said with an annoyed expression looking at the man who responded.

\"Yeah whatever better safe than sorry!\"

They turned back to the forest and Shen waited at least 30 minutes before getting up from his prone position.

He began carefully looking around after confirming they were gone and breathed a sigh of relief.

\"That was close! I need to be more careful, also since when did the system have a stealth mode?\" Shen said annoyed that the system always has some features that he doesn't know about.

\"System is there any way I can know all the modes you have?\"

[Affirmative.]

\"Well tell me!\" Shen said annoyed. As soon as he did, a screen popped up.

[Enemy detection On/Off]

[Energy meter and information On/Off]

[Health updates On/Off]

[Threat analysis On/Off]

[Trainer mode On/Off]

[voice activation On/Off]

[Custom mode On/Off]

[Stealth mode On/Off]

[Gain knowledge to unlock more settings and upgrade existing ones.]

\"When did I get that??\" Shen asked.

[Stealth skill was acquired when the host body was upgraded to middle mortal class.]

'I see' Shen thought 'Looks like this system needs to be checked every time I upgrade the person who designed this is a dumbass genius' Shen shrugged his shoulders.

\"But now I know who I'm up against..\" Shen looked into the forest where the man and woman were

He felt a pit drop in his stomach from remembering what he saw. \"They are not getting away with this!\"

Shen looked at the temple with rage welling up inside him and turned away into the woods towards the direction of the cave.

****

As Shen got closer to the cave he could see there weren't any beasts anywhere near the cave it seems that even the animals avoided it.

As he came to the cave he saw that the entrance was about 15 feet high and 20 feet across as he was about to enter there was a roar coming from the cave.

Shen sat behind a bush near the cave and turned on stealth mode and looked on to the entrance and saw something exiting the cave.

It was a bear and it's on fire! Shen quickly looked around the bear to see if it was being attacked but he didn't see anyone but the bear looked so calm. Shen asked the system to do a threat analysis on the bear.

[Cinder bear: Higher mortal class.]

Shen looked at the name of the bear and worked out that his name was probably describing the fact he is on fire.

The bear seemed to be leaving the cave to go hunt and Shen waited for it to leave before entering the cave.

\"I should get a middle mortal class quick and maybe when the bear comes back I can kill it too\" Shen let out a smirk, Everything is coming together Shen ran into the cave and looked around despite there being no light Shens eye adjusted faster than it would have before.

\"Wow it does enhance everything when you upgrade.\"

Shen looked into the cave which seemed to stretch for miles even with his enhanced eyes he couldn't see the end of the cave so he walked in deeper and still saw no end in sight.

\"Wow,\" Shen said as he saw the cave was expanding as he entered and it got darker as he walked.

When he got to the end of it he noticed huge stalagmites were hanging from the ceiling and a huge underground lake.

\"This place is huge!\" Shen's jaw nearly dropped at the sight \"But where are the monsters? I thought the kid said this place was crawling with them!\" Shen was looking around but found it was a bit dark even though he enhanced his eyes since there was barely any light from the outside so he used an energy orb and lit the room

As soon as he did he noticed that he had walked into a room of sleeping cinder bears.

They all looked like the same bear that exited the cave except two were noticeably smaller And Shen noticed the small ones were kids and the big one must have been the mom who had the two smaller ones nestled close to her.

Shen looked at the three and cast threat analysis to see what danger he was in.

[Cinder bear: higher mortal class.]

[Cinder bear: Middle mortal class.]

[Cinder bear Middle mortal class.]

[The smaller bears will allow you to upgrade. action is recommended.]

Shen looked at the message and looked at the cute bear cubs. They looked helpless and he couldn't even think of hurting them.

\"No, I'll find another way. I won't take someone's family.\"

Shen looked at the cubs for a moment and the room seemed to light up a bit harder 'did the upgrade also affect my light?'

But then shen noticed that the light he saw was a different color than the blue orb and seemed orange and shen realized what it was.

\"Oh Shi-\"

[Attack Imminent.]