96%
One might believe that this 4% was little, and it would be... if Simon’s chaos flame was like that of a normal demon with a Supreme Common Bloodline.
However, his chaos flame was comparable to a demon with a Supreme Royal Bloodline, and this remaining 4% would require about ten times the quantity of demonic energy a demon with a normal Supreme Common Bloodline would have.
"Would the demonic energy in this room be enough for me?"
Simon looked around with a frown, then he released a soft sigh.
"No time to waste. I’ll absorb as much as I can."
He closed his eyes, and began to absorb the demonic energy in the cultivation room with the help of Devour.
Devour had a passive ability that allowed him to passively absorb the demonic energy in the air and it also increased his rate of absorption once he was in deep meditation.
Time went on, and after thirty minutes, the dark grey fog in the room thinned out, and Simon frowned as the demonic energy in the cultivation room was being absorbed much faster than it was being replenished by the array in the room.
Higher graded cultivation rooms had much more efficient and powerful arrays, and Simon knew that he would not go through such issues if he was in such a room.
He also knew that if he had a hell stone in the cultivation room, it would have helped.
Unfortunately, a low grade hell stone costs a thousand merits to purchase.
He had tried purchasing it when he went on his ’shopping spree.’ Unfortunately, he was too poor to afford one.
’I have only about forty three minutes left to use the cultivation room. I’ve refined it to 98%. The refinement speed is not enough because I lack sufficient demonic energy around me.’
’I needed approximately thirty minutes to refine my chaos flame by 2%, and I would have taken the risk to spend another thirty minutes to refine it to 100%, but the demonic energy in the room is about to be completely depleted.’
’Aside from that, I’ll need more time and demonic energy to be able to become a Fiend.’
’Sigh... It seems I have no other choice.’
Simon shook his head with a soft sigh, then he sent his intentions into his Grave Mark.
Words in the demonic language appeared in front of him, and they continuously changed till they stopped.
What was in front of him was a number, and this number belonged to a classmate of his.
He dialed the number through his Grave Mark.
A beeping sound suddenly appeared in his head, and it remained like that for a few seconds until a familiar female voice resounded in Simon’s head.
"Blackmoon?"
The confusion and surprise in the female’s voice was evident and extremely visible, and Simon remained silent for a few seconds, causing the woman at the other end of the phone call to be baffled and lost.
’If this is the most optimal and maybe even the only method I can use to advance to the next rank, then what good will my pride do?’
’Emotions like anger, pride, sadness, envy, and so on... I need to learn how to use them as tools. I need to learn how to control them.’
’As long as I get what I want, then that’s all that matters. As long as I win, then that’s all that matters.’
’Perseverance. Perseverance. Perseverance. I need to learn how to persevere under any sort of situation.’
Simon inhaled deeply, then he reeled in his pride and spoke.
"Hey, Merath. I need to borrow hundred (100) merits from you. I’ll give it back to you in three days."
There was silence for a seemingly long period of time, then Merath’s loud voice could be heard.
"Wait! Wait! Wait! Holy shit?! The cold, indifferent, and unapproachable Blackmoon wants to borrow money from me? I can’t believe it. You must be an impostor."
Simon’s lips twitched slightly since he still felt a bit of damage to his pride, but he had to do this if he wanted to advance to the next rank.
He had thought of several other options, but each of them had cons he could not deal with.
He thought of using the Chaos Blade to cut apart a hole in the room next to him so that the demonic energy in the other room would flow into his room.
However, if he did this, the academy would realize and questions would be asked. If at the end of the day, the existence of the Chaos Blade was not found out by the clan or academy, then he would surely have to pay a fine for damaging the wall and array of the cultivation tower, and the fine for such a thing is in the thousands.
He could not pay such a thing, especially when the fine would be tripled for him.
He also thought of finding a fellow Initiate to rough up and force to transfer his points to him, but doing that had so many potential issues he wasn’t ready to deal with.
He even thought of advancing with his 98% refined Chaos Flame since a demon only needed to refine their Chaos Flame by 50% to open up the path in advancing to the next rank.
But the question of whether the demon would succeed or not was still very much present.
Obviously, Simon would not do such a thing since this was him literally cutting off his future for immediate benefits.
He had even thought of buying some items that could grant a demon a sudden increase in their demonic energy, but these items were too expensive for him to purchase.
He had thought of a lot of things, and the option that would give him the least problem was to swallow his pride and borrow from Merath.
"I don’t have time for this, Merath. Borrow me a hundred merits and I’ll give you back in three days. Can you do that or not?"