Starting from Zero to Build a Demon Family
Chapter 17 - Spirit Devour? No, It's an Experience Pill!

Chapter 17: Spirit Devour? No, It’s an Experience Pill!

[Miko: Sorry, something came up and I totally forgot about you.]. [Hana: Hmph! You’re the worst, Miko!]. [Miko: I’ll buy you Daifuku tomorrow—please forgive me!]. [Hana: Two!]. [Miko: Deal!!].

After making amends over LINE, Yotsuya Miko finally exhaled, the knot in her chest loosening at last.

“This spot should do,” Lynn remarked as he came to a stop in front of an empty alleyway.

Miko, hearing him, slipped her phone into her satchel.

It was a dark, blustery night—the perfect setting for exorcising cursed spirits.

Lynn swept his gaze across the alley and picked out the weakest one nearby for Miko’s trial run.

“That one,” he said, pointing toward the right.

Miko looked in the direction he indicated and spotted it: a grotesque, greasy spirit with a bloated belly. She took a steadying breath, then stepped forward, feet firm with resolve.

Even though she’d mentally prepared herself, her nerves betrayed her the closer she got. Her breathing grew shallow, her scalp tingled, and every instinct screamed to turn away.

After all, spirits like this had once haunted her nightmares. That kind of fear couldn’t be dismissed easily. Emotion after emotion surged through her, but in the end, she stood her ground before the creature.

“You can see me?” the spirit rasped.

“You can see me?”

Let’s end this. Right here. Right now.

Their eyes locked. Miko’s expression was unwavering as she stared it down.

The greasy spirit flinched in surprise, then its bloated features contorted in delight. “You can see me! You can really see me!”

“Yes,” Miko replied calmly, “I can see you.”

Ah… she’d been dying to say that.

A rush of release surged through her, as if something within her had finally cleared.

The spirit faltered again, clearly unaccustomed to such brazen defiance. But hesitation turned to hunger. It snarled and lunged, claws outstretched.

“I’ll eat you! I’ll eat you alive!”

“Eat me? Why not try my bag instead?”

She had no intention of dirtying her hands. With a sharp twist of her hips, she hurled her satchel straight at it, a flicker of magic trailing behind the swing.

With a hiss, the moment the bag struck the greasy creature, its body convulsed. It didn’t even get the chance to scream properly before vanishing into thin air.

Miko stood frozen. “That was way too easy.”

Effective against spirit-type entities. The cursed spirit had been obliterated in a blink. She hadn’t even used much magic.

She eyed her satchel curiously. “Wait… are spirits really this weak?”

“Not quite,” Lynn said. “That one was just particularly low-tier.”

“I see.” She scratched her cheek and reeled in the confidence that had started to swell.

“Still, with your current abilities, you won’t have trouble with most cursed spirits,” Lynn added, offering encouragement rather than a warning. “Now, let’s test another function of the Spirit-Communing Demon.”

“Yes, Lynn-sama!”

Forced Spirit Control.

Miko closed her eyes and steadied her breath, channeling magic outward. Before long, a nearby cursed spirit fell still, its eyes turning glassy—successfully seized.

“It worked!” she said, elated, then directed it toward another cursed spirit nearby.

The moment they crossed paths, the controlled spirit let out a guttural roar, and the two began tearing at each other.

Seizing the opportunity, Miko took control of several more spirits and sent them to dogpile the unlucky target.

The cursed spirit didn’t even have time to react properly. Surrounded on all sides, it was shredded under the relentless assault and dissipated completely.

Breathing a little heavier, Miko reported, “With my current strength, I can only control ten at a time.”

Lesser spirits, Lynn corrected silently in his mind.

“That’s already excellent,” he said aloud, clapping lightly to acknowledge her progress.

While Miko could manage ten lesser cursed spirits simultaneously, Lynn himself could do far more. After all, he wasn’t just any demon—he was an upper-rank one.

Once Miko had caught her breath, they resumed testing the next power.

Gathering the ten spirits she still controlled, Miko’s eyes glinted, and her lips moved almost inaudibly. “Devour Spirits.”

The moment the command left her mouth, the bodies of the ten spirits began to contort, shrieking in agony as invisible force twisted and compressed them. A black-hole-like vortex formed at their cores, drawing them inward until they condensed into a cluster of crystalline violet orbs.

Miko picked one up. It crumbled moments later, weathering away into fine dust like sand caught in the wind.

She blinked. “I… don’t feel any different?”

One by one, she absorbed the other nine, only to frown again. “Still nothing noticeable.”

Lynn studied her quietly. “That’s enough for today.”

As he finished speaking, a teleportation circle—’Cube Array Jump’—flared beneath his feet, casting its glow around Miko and Utaha.

“Eh?” Miko gasped, but before she could process it, all three vanished from the alley.

Back at Lynn’s residence, a flash of purple light lit up the room. The trio materialized in the living room.

Miko’s eyes went wide. “That… that was amazing!”

Just like that, they were in a completely unfamiliar place.

Utaha didn’t even blink. After her visit to Kuoh Town, she’d grown used to this kind of thing. She even took the time to explain teleportation magic to Miko, who, unfortunately, wasn’t paying attention.

“So… this is Lynn-sama’s house?” she murmured, her gaze wandering in awe.

Utaha sighed silently. I gave her a whole lecture about magic circles and all she remembers is this being Lynn’s home?

But of course, Lynn hadn’t brought her here just for a tour.

“Miko, take off your clothes.”

Again?

Though startled, her body responded out of habit. She undressed swiftly, the motions almost mechanical now.

Utaha glanced over, brow arching slightly. “Updating her Grace again, I take it?”

Lynn pricked his finger and smeared a drop of blood across Miko’s scarf.

Her Grace activated and revealed:

Yotsuya Miko

[Lesser Demon].

[Race: Demon].

[Master: Lynn Waliver].

[Strength: i0 → i1].

[Agility: i0 → i2].

[Endurance: i0 → i1].

[Magic: i0 → i9].

[Innate Skills:

-Yin-Yang Eyes (omitted)

-Spirit-Communing Demon (omitted)].

“Just as I thought…”

A thirteen-point increase overall. Of those, ten were clearly the result of spirit devouring.

But what caught his eye was that even her Strength and Endurance had ticked up. That was unusual.

Random experience pill?

Lynn’s expression twisted slightly.

This ability… might be a bit too strong. If I catch a high-level cursed spirit and feed it to her… wouldn’t she just skyrocket on the spot?

It shouldn’t be that easy. There must be some kind of limit, Lynn thought. It still needs to be tested.

After copying the data, Miko got dressed and began reviewing it.

“The data increased so fast!” she exclaimed, surprised. “And even strength and other statistics have gone up.”

“But I don’t feel like I used that much strength?” She moved her arms up and down, puzzled.

Could it be because of that swing when I threw the bag?

“It should be ‘Spirit Devouring.’”

Utaha had also seen Yotsuya Miko’s updated data. After all, Miko hadn’t tried to hide it from her.

Sharp as ever, Utaha immediately grasped the essence of the stat increase. She came to the same conclusion Lynn had reached—Random Experience Pill.

“What an enviable ability…” Utaha murmured under her breath.

To raise any of her attributes besides magic, she had to hurl volume after volume of spirit grimoires. Yotsuya Miko, on the other hand, just needed to consume ghosts.

After Lynn explained the principles of Spirit Devouring, Miko suddenly had a moment of clarity. Her eyes lit up with understanding—then with hunger.

Her appetite spiked on the spot. But just as she was about to act on it, her phone rang, breaking the mood.

“Oh no! I forgot to report to Mom!”