Chapter 1910: It's Your Choice
Chapter 1910: It’s Your Choice
“What do you mean with that?” wondered Andromeda. “Demons are just… the materialization of Demonic Energy?”
“Yeah,” I nodded. “Just like when frozen, water becomes ice… When concentrated and given a physical form, Demonic Energy instantly becomes some sort of Demon, the more energy you put into it, the stronger the Demon becomes, and the larger it is. Demons grow stronger by consuming souls, but also within Hell, they eat one another, absorbing their own Demonic Energy, and becoming bigger as a result.”
“Woah! Is that true?!” the Imp gasped. “M-Master, what do I do now?!”
“He’s quite the chatty guy…” Said Andromeda. “Are you… Um, going to… you know?”
“I was planning to make him go back into demonic energy… but he’s kind of endearing, the little guy,” I laughed.
“Gyehehehe!” The imp began jumping around clapping with its hands.
“Demons aren’t exactly evil; they simply obey the commands of their makers…” I said. “Or I guess, summoners. The Demons from Pandemonium… I think they were born when he was going through immense suffering and emotional trauma, this made it, so they became hateful and spiteful of life and everything else that isn’t their master.”
“Who’s Pandemonium?” The Imp wondered.
“Technically your father,” I said.
“EH?!” He gasped. “Does that mean you’re my mom?”
“I’m not your mom!” I roared angrily. “And… Uh, I guess… Dammit, I can’t really bring myself to kill the little guy.”
“K-Kill?!” the Imp cried, jumping. “Yikes! Don’t joke like that, master!”
“I wasn’t joking, I was… considering it,” I smiled.
“Hyeeeh!” he was shocked in horror.
“Now what do I do with him?” I wondered.
“He’s too weak to do anything,” Said Andromeda. “Oh, maybe he could be a servant for the house? Tend the crops and other stuff?”
“I’ll do anything master says!” the Imp nodded. “But can I get a payment?”
“What do you want as payment?” I asked.
“Souls!” He smiled, licking his lips.
“Of course you want souls… fine,” I nodded. “Animal or monster souls is fine, right?”
“It’s fine!” He nodded.
“Alright then,” I said. “Go inside the castle, don’t cause too much mischief, and look for someone called Fuyu, she will show you the ropes, Imp.”
“Gotcha master!” he nodded, flying with his little wings away.
“Whew, we got a little demon as a friend now, that’s cute,” laughed Andromeda. “I guess a true demon’s nature is what their master wants them to be… So what you said must be that… Yeah, Pandemonium has made his own demons embody his hatred and traumas.”
“Yeah, the memories of the past I saw, they were brief, but back then Pandemonium… When he was just summoned, he was unable to use his powers,” I explained. “He was most likely able to awaken them after going through torture from the Ancient Gods, those bastards.”
“That’s…” Andromeda sighed, looking rather sad. “Well, even then… We cannot really try to empathize with him.”
“He’s not willing to sit down and talk anyways,” I said. “It’s a battle of survival, it is him or us. And I know what you mean. But it’s hopeless to even think about that, it simply won’t work.”
“I guess you’re not wrong,” she said. “What item’s next?”
“We spent a while just using the first item… Anyways, let’s go for this real quick.”
I showed her two grimoires, they were the [Divine Ability Evolution Grimoire (SS Grade)].
“They’re SS Rank,” she said. “Hmm, you can only evolve SS Rank or below Divine Abilities with this. But you’ve got quite a few of them!”
“Yes, I do have, let’s give them an upgrade,” I smiled with a nod. “Wait, Evolution… Is usually more like changing something than the upgrade of rank, right?”
“Yeah, the Divine Ability can gain special new powers or change name completely,” She explained. “Divine Ability Evolution and Rank Up are different.”
“Understood…” I nodded. “So this is the list of Divine Abilities I can upgrade… Huh.”
[Deep One’s Gaze (SS)]
[Unique Skill: Sky Walk (S)]
[Divine Cooking Arts (SS)]
[Holy Black Light (SS)]
[Divine Blacksmithing (S)]
[Divine Holy Metal Creation (A)]
[Divine Alchemy Arts (B)]
“Not as few as I imagined!” Andromeda said. “What do you want to improve?”
“Honestly, Alchemy and Blacksmithing would be great…” I said. “Can I force them to evolve with this? Ah right, maybe Cooking Arts could be good as well.”
“Hmm, you can try, however, these three specific Divine Abilities are a bit different. First of all they cannot be Fused and are connected to your understanding and learning of these Fields. So forcefully evolving them… Well, try it,” she said.
“Okay…” I used a grimoire, quickly choosing the Divine Ability.
And then…
CRACKLE!
A zap of lightning hit my hand!
“Ouch! What the hell was that?!”
“It means it doesn’t work, I guess.”
Andromeda shrugged as she saw me suffer the consequences.
“Seriously? I never thought there would be Divine Abilities this stubborn…” I muttered.
“They’re connected to the deep comprehension of these Fields after all,” she explained. “So it cannot be helped! You simply have to improve naturally, Drake, no cheats with Alchemy,
Cooking, or Blacksmithing, alright?”
“Sure…” I sighed. “Well, there’s still quite the big list even without those three.”
“Looking at it again… Deep One’s Gaze seems interesting? It is the Divine Ability I got from devouring the Deep One, isn’t it?” I wondered. “I’ve been mostly ignoring it this entire time, but it causes Curses when I look at someone, the thing is, this curse is quite weak.”
“Maybe if it evolves it can become strong, though I doubt Pandemonium can be affected by Curses,” Said Andromeda. “Even if upgraded, it might not be good enough.”
“Yeah, figures… I’ll keep it around as a Fusion Ingredient, or maybe for the Ascendancy Law Cores eventually. Anyways, the others… I guess we can go for [Divine Holy Metal Creation] and try something new. What do you think?” I asked, slightly nervous about the answer.
“I think you could give it a try!” Andromeda said once more.
“You sure love acting cryptic…” I sighed. “Okay, one Divine Ability has been chosen, the
other… I’ll take your recommendation.”
“Isn’t it obvious? Choose the Unique Skill!” She said.
“Wait, what? Sky Walk?” I asked. “Hah…”