There were Nine Elements. Each with a very clear-cut strength and weakness.

Arcane: The Neutral Element, not inherently weak or strong against anything.

Light: The primordial nuclear flame of the stars in the sky. Weak and strong against Darkness.

Darkness: Although it was the absence of light, Darkness was a bit more complicated overall. It also involved concepts like gravity, hence why it was both weak and strong against Light.

Chaos: Entropy and disorder, a general rule of randomness. Weak and strong against Nature.

Nature: The natural order of things. Weak and strong against Chaos.

Fire: Strong against Wind, weak against Water.

Earth: Strong against Water, weak against Wind.

Wind: Strong against Earth, weak against Fire.

Water: Strong against Fire, weak against Earth.

The last four didn’t need an explanation, since they were fairly straightforward. However, while there were Nine Elements… There were many more combinations and strange Pseudo-Elements. For example, the Undead were generally weak against Fire and Light, but some of them weren’t. Earth was strong against Water, but if a land-dweller suddenly found themselves in the sea, that advantage would be meaningless.

Michael was now walking into Haunted, Ruins, at Night. The significance is that the Darkness Element obviously gets a variety of boosts in each of those conditions. Without even factoring in the various spectral or ghost related Passives that would further improve their enemies’ power, Michael’s Demons were at a total disadvantage in every way.

Of course, there were other factors as well. For example, Water types would gain bonuses when the Moon was out, regardless of whether it was visible or not. During a Full Moon, most Darkness Element Demons would get weakened, while Light Element Demons would be strengthened. It never mattered to him that much in the official games, but in that fan-made nightmare, he learned the hard way about just how terrifying the Environment could be.

When he finally made it to the edge of Town, Michael looked at the rings on both fingers and said: “Come out?”

Nothing happened. So he tried, “Alice… Come out?” This time, a stream of water emerged from the runes and within moments, transformed into a tiny azure lizard that was clinging to the back of his right hand. He couldn’t help but say, “Aww~, you’re so cute~…”

Then he took out the phone and used it once again. This time to make sure it actually worked in the darkness.

[#3: Blue Iguana. Name: Alice. Age: Baby. Sex: Female. Condition: Healthy. Level: 1. Passive: Amphibious. Element: Water. Primary Stat: Agility.]

He wasn’t sure what kinda magical nonsense made it work, but Michael tried to just treat it like he would in the game. The next thing to do was look at the Stats/Skills and make some decisions.

[Statistics. Experience: 0/10. HP: 5. Vitality: 1. Strength: 1. Intelligence: 1. Endurance: 1. Wisdom: 1. Agility: 2.]

Experience: As in most role-playing games, once a certain amount of quantifiable experience points are accumulated, the character can level-up. The Exp required to level-up will double with every Metamorphosis, while the baseline Baby Experience is simply 10 times the current level.

Vitality: The base value that determines Hit Points or Health. 1 = 5. The reason why this Stat even exists in the first place, is to keep the simple Base Stats around the same starting values. It was important for Stat Training, since otherwise, HP would take up too many points by itself or require an entirely different equation to be added.

Strength: Directly adds 1 base damage to any Physical Attacks. Physical Attacks are often called Martial Arts, or just Arts.

Intelligence: Directly adds 1 base damage to any Magical Attacks. Magical Attacks are often called Spells.

Endurance: Directly subtracts 1 base damage from any Physical Attacks received. As this is base damage, it acts before Environmental factors come into play.

Wisdom: Directly subtracts 1 base damage from any Magical Attacks received. As this is base damage, it acts before Environmental factors come into play.

Agility: This determines how quickly a Demon can move. The faster they are than the enemy, the more easily they can Attack, Evade and even Attack more than once, since this is reality and not a turn-based game.

[Skills: 1/3. Nibble: Physical, Arcane, 0 Damage.]

[Nibble: Base damage is so low that it’s entirely dependant on the Demon’s Strength to do anything. This is useful for eating small insects and not much else.]

“Oh my God… Even in the game they would never make you start with a new-born Demon.” Michael snickered, putting the phone away and using his right index finger to gently rub the lizard’s head. Alice was so delicate and fragile that he was afraid to even take her with him into the Ruins of Aurora Town.

“Well, the game is different from reality. Hopefully you can still earn Experience, even if I’m the one beating the shit outta things.” Michael smiled at the purring iguana and gently placed her onto his left shoulder. Then he took a step onto the eerie grey soil. This time though, he wasn’t barefoot.

The moment he entered the town, there was a quiet ‘rattle’ noise and Alice hissed in his ear. With the noise and warning, he yelped and jumped to the left. Staring up at him was a tiny little brown snake, with a black rattle on the end of its tail. It had bright-red serpentine eyes and two sharp, protruding fangs. It hissed at Michael and rattled its tail eerily, as it slithered closer, seemingly unafraid of the vast difference in size between the two of them.

“Umm, okay then.” After the initial shock, the beefy ‘boy’ snickered and regained his composure: “It’s just a little baby Dark Rattle.”

Dark Rattle: A venomous brown or black rattlesnake of the Darkness Element. Number 7 on the Akuma List. Although they often inhabited dark and dreary environments, they weren’t Undead, but closer to regular animals.

“Shit, I really should’ve asked Dusty for a shovel or something, huh?” Michael grumbled to himself as he backed up slowly away from the approaching snake. Unlike the main characters from the Anime, he wasn’t stupid enough to waste time pulling out his phone in order to ‘identify’ the creature and he couldn’t instantly or automatically scan its data before a turn-based battle like in the video games.