The Greatest Sinner

Evan was pleased with the unexpected reward. He hadn`t even thought he would be able to learn the skill of an evolved monster. The skill had already been transformed into a Magic Circle, so all Evan had to do was learn it and practice a little. It shouldn't have taken long.

<This all happened after I`d got the Rat Sigil. Being able to get monster skills is really nice, but...I shouldn't be trying to make friends with every monster. It just doesn't make sense.>

Humans and monsters had always feuded, Evan and Reykar were just the exceptions to the rule. The young man himself didn't know how it all worked out, so there was no point in Evan trying to learn the skills of other monsters.

First of all, he didn't even know if it was possible to make friends with other monsters, and trying to make contact with every monster he encountered was too dangerous. Secondly, even if he found a monster that wouldn't attack him, it was unlikely that Evan would be able to make a contract with it. He and Reykar had saved each other's lives several times and only then did their level of trust become sufficient to make the contract. Thirdly, it would be preferable for Evan to strengthen his bond with Reykar than to look for his replacement.

"Okay, now we need to look around the warehouse and get as far away from here as possible. Reykar, you stay here, okay?" Evan said calmly looking at the flying raven.

Caw!

"Fine."

The next moment Evan was already in the real world. He quickly made his way back to the underground base, jumped off, and found himself in the warehouse. Unfortunately, most of the materials had been destroyed. A huge monster and then Reinier`s attacks had turned most of this group's booty into rubble. 

Nevertheless, there were plenty of monsters` skins left that could be sold for a decent amount of money. There wasn't much room in Evan's spatial ring, so he couldn't take everything. But, he did take the skins that weren't badly damaged.

There was nothing of value in this underground shelter besides the warehouse, but Evan had something else to pick up.

Before he left, Evan decided to check every room in this underground base. He knew that other than the contents of the warehouse, there was probably nothing of value here, but he had to see for himself. When Evan got to the room where he had killed the group commander, he immediately noticed his sword and decided to take it back and sell it in the city. 

Whoosh.

The big sword moved into Evan's spatial ring and the young man headed for the exit, but suddenly he noticed something strange.

<Hmm? Does it just seem to me or is there some kind of red glow under the ground?>

Evan hadn't noticed it before, but now with his enhanced vision, he could clearly see that there was something going on right under his feet.

<The ground layer is pretty thick and I have almost no mana... Reykar, can you help?> Evan asked in his mind and the next moment a raven was sitting on the young man's shoulder.

Evan jumped aside and pointing to the floor, calmly said: "Do me a favor and make a hole here."

The raven nodded, and a violet glow appeared from inside its beak. With each passing second, it grew brighter and brighter until it became a deadly, purple beam. It reached the right spot at the speed of sound, and there was a deafening explosion.

<This ability is much more powerful than my "Magic Missile", I don't think even the first level spells would have such destructive power. Monsters truly are superior to humans in every way.>

Evan pondered, waiting for the smoke to clear and he could see what was hiding under that shelter.

"What is it?" Evan muttered puzzled, jumping down.

In the middle of the small room, there was a bright red crystal. It was emitting this glow that Evan noticed, thanks to his sight. Moreover, the crystal itself was in an unusual magical circle.

Evan looked around and saw roots in the walls of the room, but not big and living ones, but dry ones. Evan quickly realized what was happening. He knew neither this spell nor what kind of crystal it was, but it wasn't hard to make a logical chain of what was going on.

<Those roots are dry, just like half the trees in the "Half-Dead Forest". This crystal is directly beneath one of the largest and strongest trees in this forest. Apparently, this crystal sucks the energy from the other trees and collects it into itself. I wonder who put it there.>

Evan thought about it as he headed for the crystal. He was going to pick it up since it definitely had a huge amount of mana concentrated in it. With this crystal, Evan would be able to "Create" much faster.

Evan had no problem pulling the crystal out of the ground and moving it into the spatial ring. There was nothing, that protected the crystal since it was already in a place that was nearly impossible to find.

<Does that mean there's a crystal-like that under every huge tree?> 

Of course, Evan was attracted to the idea of collecting as many of these crystals as possible. But Evan thought that some of the underground organizations and maybe even the "Demonic Tree" were connected to them, and so it was dangerous to sell them. But, he could use them for himself. Nevertheless, these crystals weren't worth risking his life.

"All right, time to get out of here. Reykar, let's go!" The raven sat on Evan's shoulder and ended up in the young man's 'Nirvana".

Evan quickly headed toward the slope from which he had come to this forest. He remembered the path the group took to get here, so he didn't encounter any monsters. After a while, Evan reached the fallen tree, where Reykar's grave used to be, and quickly climbed the slope.

He hadn't been in the woods long, so his horse was still there. Evan's journey had been very dangerous, but also extremely rewarding.

As he returned home on the safe trails, Evan thought over everything that had happened to him.

<I originally came back to this forest to heal Reykar, but in the end, all this happened... The "Half-Dead Forest" is dangerous indeed, I don't think I should come back here again until I reach at least the "One-Pointed Star".

Evan remembered the group leader's words about the monster dwelling near the ruins. It was a second ranked monster and Evan would not be able to fight it on equal footing for a long time yet. But most of the other monsters weren't that strong. But, if Reinier, being at the "One Pointed Star" stage, could move freely through the forest, then a similar strength would be enough for Evan to explore this area.

<My spatial ring is filled with the skins of various monsters. I think I'll get quite a few "Moon Coins" for them. I wonder how much those crystals in the pouch are worth? I'll have to find out more about that when I get back to town.>