(Two days later)
Simon sat in a meditative position inside a room that had nothing in it. It had no bed, no chair, no table, absolutely nothing.
Just a room with walls, a floor, and a ceiling.
One would think Simon was a sitting corpse because he barely made any movement. The only reason why would realize that Simon was alive and not dead is because of the rising and falling of his chest.
His breathing was slow, quiet, and rhythmic.
And with every inhale he took, silver mist gathered at the edges of his lips for a second before disappearing.
And when he exhaled, the air close to his nostrils turned orange for a second before vanishing.
If the Pallbearers saw that Simon was absorbing, circulating, and refining the demonic energy in the air so that he could make his chaos flame burn brighter, the shock, suspicions, and wariness they have had concerning Simon would increase by several degrees once again.
Simon was a demon kid from an impoverished tribe. He should not have the knowledge on how to cultivate his chaos flame.
Such knowledge was extremely precious to the Shadowgrave Clan and even to the six major kingdoms.
The commonly known methods to demons on how to advance their chaos flame to the next realm is either through battles, life-threatening situations, or by devouring the hearts of either humans or demons.
Only the demons in the elite society know of another method called Cultivation, and Simon who was just a child with a Supreme Common Bloodline should not know about cultivation.
But did Simon care about this?
Absolutely not.
After finding out that the Pallbearers were no longer observing him and it was only the two Archfiends that brought him to this building that was observing him, he decided to cultivate using his innate demonic energy circulation technique.
The technique was not perfect, and with his knowledge, he believed that he could make some improvements to it.
But he didn’t want to make such changes yet till he understood more about demonic energy and the demonic path of power.
The two Archfiends who were in charge of making sure he didn’t try anything stupid or funny saw Simon sitting in a meditative position, but because of their arrogance and disdain toward Simon, they didn’t even for once believe that Simon was cultivating his chaos flame.
A few hours later, Simon exhaled deeply and opened his sky blue eyes.
He clenched his fists, then he nodded with a slightly satisfied expression.
’After I devoured that Mercenary Captain’s corpse, I became as strong as a Fiend with a Lesser Bloodline. Well, a Minor Prime to be more specific.’
’But now...’
He paused and furrowed his brows with a pondering expression.
’I might be able to fight a Minor Archfiend with a Lesser Bloodline. But it’ll be extremely dangerous and difficult. I might not win. I might only survive, but having the ability to survive against an Archfiend as a Minor Lesser Demon is astonishing honestly.’
’The difference between a Fiend and an Archfiend is very wide. I know that very well.’
’And this is just for my physical body. My demonic energy is nowhere close enough to that of Fiends or Archfiends. I would exhaust my demonic energy before an Archfiend even exhausts five percent of his or hers.’
A light smile appeared on Simon’s lips, then he looked up.
’But even against Archfiends, Fiends, or even Lesser Demons. I have to be wary of the artifacts they possess and their bloodline abilities. Especially the artifacts... Artifacts can play a major role in a battle.’
’... Just like the robe of that Velari I failed to kill.’
Simon stood, then he walked out of the room.
When he came out, he was met with the cold and harsh winds of the Blackwind Valley in front of him.
The Blackwind Valley was a valley with jagged black cliffs, constant screaming wind, and a dozen narrow stone bridges that went from one cliff to the other.
Simon looked to the left, and he saw a building that was just like his.
The door opened, and a female demon with a humanoid body, a beautiful face, but her hair was made up of snakes, not normal hair.
’Looks like Medusa. And serpentborns like her have suffered in the hands of humans because some humans somehow know about their powers... Some of it at least.’
The female serpentborn saw him stare at her, and she scoffed in disdain while walking to the garden that was in front of her house.
She crouched and began playing with some snakes she had placed in the garden.
Simon looked to his right, and there he saw other demons either meditating, resting, chatting, or practicing in the gardens in front of the tiny buildings that was theirs.
To his left, right, and behind him were dozens of houses and demons, and all these demons were like him.
They were here to take the trial and join the Shadowgrave Clan. Whether they were forced like him or doing it willingly, Simon had no idea and neither did he care.
All he did was to mark the face of every demon child he could find and notice everything he could about the demon.
After taking a subtle glance around, he walked to his garden which had a rather sizable pond.
He stripped naked without shame, and no demon looked at him weirdly or with disgust. In fact, a few demons gave him lecherous gazes- both female and male demons.
But Simon ignored them all.
He entered the pond and washed himself.
Unlike other demons who rarely washed themselves, Simon did this because he was used to doing it as a human.
Also, he had not reached the point where he had no need to bathe and his body would no longer produce waste products.
As he washed himself, he stared at the water absentmindedly, though his mind was on his chaos flame.
’I have refined my chaos flame by ten percent these past two days. If I can reach 26%, then I’ll no longer be a Minor Lesser Demon but a Prime Lesser Demon.’
’My chances of survival in this trial would increase.’