During the Dark Ages

Checking each of the seven books, Colin discovered that five of them were evolutionary guides and the other two were grimoires. The evolutionary guides were for vampires, werewolves, Leprechauns, Daimomis, and of course, the one for the true demons. Colin gave them to members of his family and kept the two grimoires. The grimoires were thick and wrapped in thick leather that still smelled a bit like a human's, or rather demon's, skin. One of them was red like blood, and smelled like it too, with two fangs on the the cover, making Colin guess that it was made by a vampire. Reading through it, Colin soon confirmed it as the first pages talked about vampire skills.

The most powerful traits were made by using the skills gained from the system and combining them with other abilities. The first few traits were ordinary ones that increased the physical abilities of a demon, which didn't really interest Colin since he already had those. Colin soon, however, found a skill that interested him.

"[Mind Shield] huh." Colin mumbled under his breath. According to the description of the trait, it allowed a person to protect their mind from manipulation by skills. The trait seemed to allow you to create a literal shield like construct over his brain.

'I should learn this one now before we reach M town, who knows what we'll find there.' Colin thought and looked at the instructions for obtaining the trait. Following the instructions, he closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He started slowly channelling his demonic energy into his head, infusing his brain and skull. Next he imagined a shape, the shape of the type of shield he wanted to protect his mind with. He imagined an energy barrier he once saw in movie, blue and translucent with multiple dense layers.

He could feel his demonic energy changing shapes and wrapping around his brain, but he still had a long way to go. He slowly and meticulously guided the potent energy, shaping it and making sure that he didn't damage himself in the process. After who knows how long, he finished the crude design of his mental barrier and released a sigh of relief, but he still had more to do. Using all his brain power for the next part, he gathered his demonic energy and formed a small ball, a nexus of sorts inside his brain. This was very risky for him since this could potentially damage his brain, but he was used to taking risks by now.

The nexus was what was supposed to keep the barrier permanently active, supplying it with demonic energy and according to the grimoire, Colin could even refine the barrier over time. Additionally, Colin created small threads of demonic energy from the nexus to the 'veins' through which demomic energy traveled in his body. After his training with Lily, he had quite a lot of knowledge about these veins, especially how much it hurt to increase the amount of energy that travels through. Colin made sure to steadily channel demonic energy through the veins and the ones he created to make sure they were functioning properly.

[Congratulations, you have unlocked the Trait, [Mind Shield].]

Colin finally opened his eyes and he could see that it was nighttime and he looked around a bit dazed. A few hours have passed since he started trying to acquire the [Mind Shield] trait, and he marveled at how time could pass in the blink of an eye.....and how focused he was on the task at hand. He could smell the scent of blood from all over the place and he noticed that Bartus wasn't beside him anymore. Obviously, every one was fighting while he was 'meditating'.

"Finally awake." Lily said as she walked towards him, looking completely refreshed

"Yeah, it seems like you guys had your hands full while I was out." Colin replied

"Not really, just a horde of tier 3 beasts and ghouls, your subordinates were able to easily take care of it. I have to say, they are adjusting pretty quickly and a few of them are pretty powerful." Lily said as she sat beside him

"So, I heard you bought some grimoires from Bartus, mind if I take a look at them. There might be some traits I haven't seen before." Lily said and Colin handed her the second one

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The rest of the journey was pretty much the same as the start, with a few beasts and ghouls attacking from time to time, but Colin's subordinates were easily able to handle it. As the levels of each of his subordinates rose, Colin felt the need to evolve even more so that his family could get even stronger. Bartus and his guild seemed to become more and more fascinated with human technology and started to question members of Dunamis family about it, but they quickly ran out of answers to give to the ever curious leprechauns. Within the week, they finally set their sites on their new home, M town.