Opening my eyes, I was in a lake of magma, drifting peacefully. The magma traveled through different tunnels underground, which I had created before I had logged out.

The feeling of swimming in magma was similar to entering a hot tub after a long, exhausting day.

The network of tunnels that I created underground so that the magma flowed properly was complex.

It felt almost instinctual. I’m guessing it must’ve been passed on through the obsidian dragon bloodline.

I had to fight against these natural instincts not to dig straight underground until I found the core of the planet and curl up inside the burning mass of energy.

The sensation was so soothing that I decided to stay for a few more hours just to relax before finally resurfacing.

I was still in the demon kingdom of Kronus. The land was barren, and I could even taste the acidity in the soil.

No plant can survive here, or any living thing for that matter. It’s a miracle how the demons survived here for so long.

If I had to guess, they were most likely eating the weaker monsters in the territory so as not to starve.

To create a guild, I needed a contract with a kingdom, allowing me to claim ownership of all the dungeons in the area in exchange for protection.

From what I know, Kronus doesn’t have any guild protecting it, which means I’m free to form a contract with them.

But for that to happen, I need to first earn their trust.

With that in mind, I decided to retrieve Lily from my storage space.

A glowing magic circle appeared on the ground around me, and from it appeared a small centipede with a jade-like exoskeleton

She had all the features of a centipede and was roughly three feet long, making her much smaller than I currently was.

She was curled up in a ball, sleeping, but slowly began to stir from her sleep. Her body slowly began to stretch.

"Master?"

"Lily, why are you a centipede?"

"Well, I umm... I wanted to look more like you. What do you think?"

"Where did you get the biomass to take on this transfornation?"

She tilted her head in confusion.

"I don’t need biomass. I’m able to take on this transformation because I’m one of yours."

"I see."

When I inevitably turn the worm and the hornet queen into monsters, I wonder if they’ll appear as centipedes too? The first one I ever created did but since Lily didnt I thought it depended on the monters.

It would be nice to have a little centipede army with all of them having different characteristics.

"Lily, I need your help."

"Hmm? What is it?"

"Before, you said your magic allows you to create life."

"Not, just life, but also some of the ingredients for life," she corrected.

"Would your magic allow you to transform this land around us into something livable? Maybe a forest area with rivers lakes and mountains..." I asked.

At my question, Lily began examining the ground as if running an analysis on it.

"The soil is damaged, likely due to the worms. And all the living creatures here were absorbed by me to gain biomass to create my children. But with enough biomass, I’ll be able to return this place to how it formerly was. But it will require a lot of biomass," she explained.

"Biomass won’t be too much of a problem," I assured.

"It isn’t?"

"Since there isn’t anyone here to clear the dungeons whenever they appear, the monsters inside them eventually break out."

That was what happened with the worms. They also broke out of a dungeon, and there are other monsters just like that.

"By killing the monsters and gaining biomass, we can reinvest it in the land."

This was my plan to gain the trust of the demons. By clearing the monsters and restoring the kingdom to how it formerly was.

Plus, by doing this, I’ll also gain biomass to spend on even more evolutions, and the cores from them I’ll sell and use to increase my bloodline purity.

"That sounds like an excellent plan," Lily quickly agreed. "This way, I’ll get to make amends with the people since I am the one who caused all of this. Do you think they’ll ever forgive me?"

I lowered my antennae and rubbed it against hers. This released a special chemical reaction similar to dopamine in humans.

This caused her body to visibly relax as she became calmer and happier.

"I’m sure they will," I assured her.

Lily bobbed her little head in agreement.

We then quickly set out in search of prey, using our antennae to track their scent.

It didn’t take long for us to pick up the scent of monsters not far away.

"On the underside of your body, there is a very special gland called the ventral gland. I haven’t used it much before, but this gland is used to release pheromones. This is how we’ll keep track of each other in case one of us gets lost."

Lily waved her antennae, signaling that she understood.

"And also, since you don’t have any fighting capabilities, I’ll fight while you devour the dead carcasses and collect the monster cores. One more thing, if anything happens, then I’ll add you back into my storage space, and we’ll make a quick escape."

The truth is that I don’t know what kind of monsters are here. I may have encountered a D-ranked beast, but for all I know, there could be an A-ranked or even an S-ranked monster on the loose.

Which is why we have to be careful. Even a C-ranked beast could kill us both without breaking a sweat.

[5 biomass has been spent to increase the sharpness of your monster Lily’s mandibles]

[10 biomass has been spent to increase the sharpness of your monster Lily’s mandibles]

[20 biomass has been spent to increase the sharpness of your monster Lily’s mandibles]

[30 biomass has been spent to increase the sharpness of your monster Lily’s mandibles]

That should be enough for her to chew through the flesh of any monster that is at least D-ranked.

Lily followed quietly behind me as I skittered through the red sandy soil.

The night was dark, which worked perfectly for my dark obsidian exoskeleton. I could camouflage myself easily.

We were following a trail that I couldn’t quite make out. Best I could tell was that this monster has eight legs and fine strands of dark gray hair that kept shedding as it moved.

There aren’t many creatures that have eight legs, so I had a suspicion. This suspicion was proven to be true when Lily accidentally stepped on a white, silky substance.

And just a few minutes later, we encountered it but we quickly hid behind a massive rock and watched it from afar.

Neither Lily nor I breath a word as we watched the cornage unfold before us.

On the ground was a massive, eight-legged beast that looked like a tarantula.

Its body was ripped to pieces. At least five of its legs were lying on the ground around us.

Its stomach was ripped open as it was being devoured by a massive, scaled beast!

"Is that... a dragon?"