Epic Of The Demonic Sage

Lucius was quite stringed by Gellor's ability to sense things. While he said that it was danger that he felt, Lucius was quite sure he could sense more things than that. After all, Lucius had not targeted Gellor with malice and thus, there was no real danger.

Hence Lucius guessed that it was the Hell Aether itself that had caused this. He had seen how Aether reacted with the hell energy and the violent reaction between them. Nexus had broken out in a protest when the Hell energy was introduced.

Even now next would destroy his hell imprint once he used then, which showed the antagonism between the two types of energies. Thus, Lucius reckoned that it was the Aether in Gellor's body that had warned him of this.

'If it really is like this, then I might need to find a way to mask it…' Lucius thought to himself.

Still, if it was just Hell energy that had a reaction like this, Lucius wondered what would happen when he finally channeled some Demonic Mana into this world. He wondered if the reaction would be stronger or not.

'The reaction between the Demonic Mana and Aether will be interesting…' Lucius thought to himself.

He looked at Gellor, who seemed to have become a bit calm than before, and gestured to him.

"You should leave now, and get to preparing and if you want to rest, you can." Lucius said, wanting to end this now.

Gellor nodded his head and spoke.

"We shall take our leave then, young Lord Asher," Gellor said before turning around and leaving with his teammates.

Once they were gone, Kiana approached Lucius from behind.

"I've never seen Gellor react like that before." Kiana stated.

"Hmm… I don't know what happened to him either." Lucius said in a calm tone, not giving away even a semblance that he knew about it.

But then Lucius was reminded of something.

"Kiana… you said you've known and fought with Gellor before, right?" Lucius asked.

"Mmhmm. When I was still training in the servant's quarters, and joined the physical training classes, Gellor was a fellow student. He was originally going to become a soldier too, but then decided that doing that was too much for him and the free life of a mercenary was better.

Sword Master Frank was the one who used to take classes back then, and nearly everyone wanted to attend them. Thus, he used to take them in large groups and did live demonstrations. I was but a mere teen back then too." Kiana replied.

"Hmm… I see. And how was Gellor as in his battle instincts?" Lucius questioned.

Kiana put her fingers on her chin and thought for about a minute before speaking.

"As my training was different from the one that Gellor and the rest of the soldiers went through, I didn't get to see him till the end. But even when I was there, I remember Gellor was consistently in the top five among hundreds." Kiana answered.

The more Lucius heard, the more he was starting to think better of the man. His opinion of Gellor rose and he wondered if he had found a gem by luck. 

'No, this is too quick to make a judgment. I'll need to see his actual performance later.' Lucius thought to himself.

He then turned around to return to his lab. There were still plenty of tests that Lucius needed to do and time was the one thing he would always make use of frugally. Kiana saw the look on Lucius's face and found it to be a bit strange but did not question it.

'Gellor's actions must have bothered him. Better to let him figure it out on his own for a bit.' Kiana thought before returning to her own work.

The door of the lab opened and Lucius locked it behind him. In there he saw the Bore Shrew still sleeping in the cage. 

"Hmm… still no difference, huh,." Lucius muttered to himself.

He poked the beast a few times with a rod but there was no reaction on the beast's end. It still seemed to be asleep. Thinking that he may as well do other things till it woke up, Lucius went to the bookshelf in the room and picked out a few to read.

There was especially a Rune beast that he needed to learn about that the nexus had shown him. The beast in question was none other than the Frenzy Ape. Lucius had moved some books from the library that he needed, often like those on rune beasts here into the lab.

Thus, it was easier and faster for him to look through them. Pulling out one of the volumes of what was basically a Rune Beast Encyclopedia, Lucius started to search. It took him about five minutes to find the beast he was interested in.

"Ah, here it is… oh? this is a rather large entry…" Lucius muttered upon seeing it.

——

Frenzy Apes: They are D ranked beasts that are extremely violent and dangerous. Despite being D ranked, they are often considered to be more dangerous than a lot of C ranked beasts.

Frenzy Apes live in tribes of up to a hundred individuals and are mostly found in the jungles of the south. Though from time to time, some beast traders from the south might capture them and sell them as tamed beasts in the north.

They are quite fierce and have a lot of stamina, said to be able to fight for over ten hours without stopping. They are also rather social and have a community that is based on individual strength.

The Frenzy apes in a tribe fight nearly every day from their very childhood all the way till they die. The ape that is the oldest in the tribe is usually the strongest, as it is the only one that would have survived the harsh life of battle.

Most weaker offspring die in the first year of their lives and over ninety percent would die by the time they reach the age of five. The rest that remains become strong enough to last on their own. 

Because of their violent nature, the most that these beasts live for is twenty years. Maximum of them will die before ever reaching that age. To make sure that their population does not die out the beasts breed through the entire year and can birth three to four offspring every six months. 

The females of the tribe are protected staunchly and any beast, or man found harming one or even coming close to one is met with the entire tribe's wrath. There have been many cases of Frenzy Ape tribes leaving their jungles to attack villages and towns, wiping them out in less than a day's time.

Their normal strength is enough to break normal metal armor and bend steel that is up to a centimeter thick. But they don't just have strength. What makes Frenzy apes far more dangerous is that they actually have higher intelligence than most beasts and animals.

An adult Frenzy Ape is said to have the intelligence of a ten year old child and can communicate with others relatively decently, whether this be another frenzy ape that is a tribe member or even a human that has tamed the beast.

Rune Crystal Gift: Frenzy

Description: The gift that the Frenzy Ape has is what gave it its name, Frenzy. When the beast is agitated to a certain level, it transforms into its frenzy state. In this state, the size of its body increases, with major increases in large muscle groups. 

Its strength is multiplied by over five times and turns into a deadly weapon in the hands of a skilled tamer. It is this ability of the Frenzy ape that made them to be feared and also brought the interest of hundreds of Beast scholars over the years.

Extensive research has been done into the habits and abilities of the Frenzy ape and it can be considered to be one of the beast studied rune beasts. This was due to the practice of using them in wars in the previous era.

While Frenzy allows the beast to increase its power by a lot, its stamina is depleted at a rapid pace when it is active. Most younger frenzy apes that are below the age of three can't even use their gift due to not having sufficient Aether in their bodies.

——

Having read the entire entry, Lucius was very interested in this rune beast. He had not expected that he would be finding such an interesting specimen today just by a stroke of luck. 

"Hmm… Frenzy apes are definitely worth investing in. If their gift Frenzy is what changes the Muscle Strengthening, then the effect must be quite significant." Lucius muttered to himself as a wide smile appeared on his face.

Pleased with this finding, Lucius closed the book and put it back on the shelf. But just when he was about to turn back, he heard a noise.