Novel Full Chapter 961 - 962: Bestowal
Chapter 961: Chapter 962: Bestowal
Damon was slightly shocked by the sudden growth of his Seed of Depravity.
He hadn’t expected that subjugating a few trolls would cause it to react.
Normally the seed only grew from two things.
Souls.
And a heart filled with resentment.
Both of those things fed it.
These days Damon had far fewer reasons to feel resentment. The overwhelming hatred and rage that once drove him to curse the world had faded.
If anything, he was calmer now.
He had learned to accept certain things.
Even parts of himself.
There was less self-hatred.
Because of that, the Seed of Depravity had also grown quieter.
This seed had originally come from Ashcroft.
Damon sometimes wondered what kind of resentment Ashcroft must have carried in his heart to condense something like that into existence.
Its power was heaven-shaking.
But Damon had no intention of using it recklessly.
He needed to avoid demonization.
And more importantly, he needed to avoid the violent conflict between that power and the divine spark within him.
While Damon might be a sucker for pain…
He was not a masochist.
Damon slowly closed his eyes.
The wind of the meadow brushed through the white strands of his hair.
The goblins had long since gone silent, watching him subdue the trolls with stunned expressions.
He waved his hand dismissively.
“You may rise.”
The trolls hesitated.
Fear still clung to them.
Their leader stealthily glanced at the corpse of the troll who had charged Damon. The body had been cut to pieces, and the creature hadn’t even had the chance to regenerate.
Damon expected to see resentment in the troll leader’s eyes.
Instead…
There was a strange sparkle of delight.
Damon frowned.
Why was he smiling?
The troll slowly raised his head.
Damon looked up at the hulking creature.
“Why are you smiling like an idiot?” he asked coldly.
“Me happy, lord,” the troll said in rough Common.
Damon raised an eyebrow.
What could he possibly be happy about?
One of his tribesmen had just been killed.
And they had all been subjugated.
Gabo and the goblin leader, his father, suddenly rushed forward.
They dropped to their knees before Damon, their faces hitting the dirt as dust rose around them.
“Great lord, please accept our humble tribe as well.”
Damon blinked.
Now he was even more confused.
What the hell was going on?
Renata quietly stepped closer and leaned toward him.
“Er… I think they believe you’re a demon warlord,” she whispered.
Damon froze for a moment.
Then his eyes widened slightly.
From what he knew, demonkin often built armies by subjugating monsters like these. Those who tamed simple-minded monsters were called tamers.
But those who dominated intelligent monsters, not with magic but with strength…
They were called warlords or lords.
These kinds of demonkin had the highest chance of eventually becoming demon lord candidates.
And if they survived long enough…
Possibly even a Demon Lord.
Until then, warlords fought each other for territory. The more warlords they defeated and the more demons they recruited, the stronger their position became.
“Oh… I see,” Damon thought.
Still, taming creatures like trolls or goblins was not considered impressive.
The real challenge was taming lesser demons and the higher demon races.
Balrogs.
Goristros.
Armanites.
And other monstrous demon species.
Taming lesser demons was already extremely difficult.
Trying to dominate the others was practically suicidal.
Most warlords only had one or two such creatures at most. Perhaps a balrog here, an armanite there. They were treated as precious trump cards.
Even Demon Lords possessed only limited numbers of such demons.
They were far too dangerous and difficult to control.
No demon lord could simply rule demons effortlessly.
With one exception.
Ashcroft.
And now…
Damon.
Demon Dominate was an utterly broken ability when used against demons.
“This continent is basically heaven for me,” Damon thought.
While Damon stood there thinking, the goblins and trolls waited anxiously for his answer.
Finally he waved his hand.
“Fine.”
“You all work for me now.”
The goblins immediately bowed deeper, while the trolls lowered their heads in submission.
Damon casually raised his hand again.
Black flames burst forth.
The corpses were consumed by the burning power of Ashborn, turning to ash within seconds.
As the flames devoured the dead troll, Damon suddenly heard a chime he had not heard in quite a while.
[You have acquired skill: Bestowal]
Damon smiled faintly.
It had been a long time since the system had granted him a new skill.
And to think…
He had obtained it simply by consuming the corpse of a troll.
Damon immediately opened the system panel to examine the new skill.
[Bestowal]
[Description]
The Unknown had countless skills and countless spells.
He had accumulated knowledge across an infinite number of pages.
From this knowledge, he bestowed boons upon those he saw fit.
Beware.
Not all of his boons are as they seem. Some boons are worse than banes.
Such is the nature of the god who dwells within the Abyss—
forever lamenting his own paradoxical nature.
[Effect]
You have skills, but they are sadly finite.
This skill allows you to increase the potential of your followers, even drastically raising the chances of awakening a secondary skill—defying the set laws of the world.
But defiance demands sacrifice.
Perhaps there is a price you have yet to pay.
[Type]
Active
[Cooldown]
0 seconds
Damon stared at the panel.
His first new skill in a long time…
And it was one that gave things away.
It only worked on his followers.
That made him pause.
Bestowal…
Was this how the Unknown God had given him skills through the system?
By bestowing them?
Then there was the constant ominous warning that always followed anything connected to the Unknown God.
His boons could easily become banes.
Honestly, Damon wasn’t even surprised anymore.
He had grown used to it.
The system itself was the greatest boon he had ever received.
And at the same time…
It was also the greatest burden on his existence.
Still, Damon slowly looked toward the goblin leader and the troll leader.
Then he raised his hand.
“Kneel,” he commanded.
“Receive my boon.”
His voice was cold, almost as if it rose from the abyss itself.
The troll immediately dropped to one knee.
The goblin leader followed without hesitation.
Damon’s hand began to glow faintly as he raised it toward them.
Then he felt something strange.
Something left his body.
It was only a small amount, since he had only given a little.
But he clearly felt it.
A faint exhaustion touched his soul.
Demonic energy drained from his body and flowed into the kneeling creatures.
The troll began to tremble.
Then the goblin leader.
Damon’s eyes widened.