“May I come in?” a man asked after knocking twice on the door in front of him.

“Come in,” the man sitting in the middle of the empty room replied. The lock clicked and the door was pushed open, revealing one of the servants protecting Emily Heder, the man’s daughter in the middle of the room. Since he was rarely allowed in, he naturally took a quick look around, though there was nothing to see in the dark and circular room, other than the shining blue lines of the formation beneath Zurdon.

The latter was sitting in the middle of the air, his eyes closed. Seeing the formation and feeling the immeasurable presence of Zurdon, the servant opened his mouth in awe.

“Did you come here to look at me, or do you have something to say?” seeing that the servant wasn’t being urgent and sensing that his daughter was alright, he asked calmly.

Bowing deeply, the servant said, “I deeply apologise for my rudeness. I simply couldn’t restrain myself upon seeing this powerful formation, Master. It keeps this whole plane in one piece, after all.”

The formation was created by Zurdon, using the mana and spatial energy that built up the Abyss gate. Because of that, the mana density was millions of times higher in this room than anywhere else in Ketarn.

“I came here because the Miss wanted to know about the contents of this bottle. It’s said to be a magical elixir that improves talent and makes people stronger. The only side effect is that once taken, it puts the consumer to sleep for a few minutes. Many of the people through the whole academy have taken it and became stronger,” the servant started to explain.

Hearing his words, Zurdon’s eyes shot open and he appeared in front of the servant. “When did this start? Who’s spreading it? Did Emily drink any of it? I want to know everything!” he threw one question after the other at the servant.

Seeing the most powerful man he ever met looking at him sternly, the servant felt overwhelmed for a moment. “SPIT IT OUT ALREADY!” Zurdon shouted, visibly getting impatient.

“I apologise! It started about a week ago and a few average students are spreading it, and Miss Emily has yet to drink it,” he answered all his question in a single breath. “But she does have another bottle, so she could have drunk it by now,” he added.

In front of his eyes, Zurdon disappeared without a trace and soon reappeared holding Emily’s shoulders. “My daughter, show me your stats!” he demanded.

“F-Father? What’s wrong with you? I was in the middle of class!” Emily stomped on his foot and stepped back in surprise.

“Don’t disobey your father, just do what I told you!” Zurdon said sternly. Being met with her father’s overwhelming aura, Emily quickly showed him her table.

Name: Emily Heder

Race: Demon-Human (Epic)

Level: 609

EXP: 8 032 889 / 8 580 000

Class: Soul Artist (Epic)

Specialization: Soul Destroyer

(1) Health: 993 675

Mana: Cosmological Constant

Titles: Pathfinder; Soul Artist, Pure One

(1)Strength: 188 534

(1)Vitality: 198 735

(1)Agility: 185 444

Will: 63

(1)Intelligence: 220 981

(1)Wisdom: 251 992

Elemental Magic:

Common Elements (Mastered)

Cosmological Constant (Mastered)

Drip Element (Mastered)

Resistances:

(1)Magical: 251 992 (+20% Symbiote)

(1)Physical: 94 267 (+20% Symbiote)

Passive:

(1) Stamina: 993 675

(1) Precision: 927 220

Skills/Spells:

Mana Control (Mastered)

Space Lock

Soul Crush (Mastered)

Soul Devour (Mastered)

Soul Shield (Mastered)

Regeneration (Mastered)

Etc...

Racial Skills:

Cornered Lv. 0 (0%) (Human)

Quick Evolution (Mastered) (Human)

Ignite (Mastered) (Demon)

Absorb (Mastered) (Demon)

Passive Skills:

Soul Realm (Mastered)

Limit Break (Mastered)

Law Library (Mastered)

Seeing her race still being the same, he sighed out of relief. Normal human-demon mixes weren’t epic ranked races. The fact that she inherited both races racial traits was the thing that made her race epic ranked.

Being above the nine hundredth level, it was only natural that her father knew of the Cosmological Constant and taught it to his daughter early on, along with many soul-related spells and skills. Because of her talent in soul spells, she acquired the Soul Artist title at the age of one hundred and changed class as well.

Little did Hector know that she simply hid her brand new devourer trait from her table, though her race really didn’t change. “My daughter, where is the other bottle of that elixir?” Zurdon questioned.

Raising her brows, Emily pulled out a full bottle from her storage ring, “It’s here, I didn’t want to drink it until you verified it was nothing strange. Is it something good?” she asked, her eyes filled with excitement.

“No! Absolutely no! I’ll tell you something now and make sure you etch my words into your mind for the rest of your life! There are ten kinds of legendary creatures in every single universe. You must know that once you drink their blood by your own will, you’ll turn into their blood servants. This usually leads to the following things…”

“You change race and turn into something more powerful, you gain a few abilities, and lastly and most importantly, you can’t disobey the creature whose blood you drank. Although except for the last, the effects are seemingly good, the truth is that it’s similar to enslaving people! I’m not sure about the exact details, maybe you could have resisted it even if you drank it, but better safe than sorry. Remember, you should by no means drink legendary creatures’ blood. If you ever do or are forced to do it, you should try your best to stay awake and resist it.”

“If I know it right, it should make people feel sleepy, and those who accept that sleepiness will turn into blood servants! So make sure if you ever drink something that makes you feel sleepy, you should never think even for a moment that it was fine to just fall asleep,” Zurdon explained all he knew about the process. Although he wasn’t sure of this since legendary creatures were hard to come by and talk to, especially about something like this, he still lived a long life and heard many things.

“I understand, Father,” Emily nodded her head furiously. “Thank the creator I didn’t drink it!” she sighed out of relief.

“Indeed, my daughter, indeed,” Zurdon hugged her and gave a kiss on the top of her head.

Kneeling down in front of her, he looked into her eyes, his hands on her shoulders, “Emily, tell me, who are the ones spreading this elixir? I’m not a creator, even if I’m powerful, so obviously, I don’t know about everything.” Seeing her doubtful eyes, which seemed to ask why he didn’t know it, he explained himself. He knew that Emily looked up to him and thought that he knew everything, so he often felt the need to educate her and correct her incorrect beliefs.

“Father, three brothers came to the academy not long ago and they are the ones who started spreading this elixir. Their names were… uhm… I just remember their family name being Warton,” she muttered.

“Warton…” furrowing his brows, Zurdon nodded his head. “Alright, I’ll take you back to the academy and your task will be to show me around. Every person who took that elixir should be identified and taken care of.”

“What? But why do they have to die? Is it really a problem if they serve a legendary creature?” feigning curiosity, Emily asked.

“It is, my daughter. Firstly, imagine an army of powerful blood servants who fight to the death recklessly if necessary. Although there isn’t anyone in Ketarn who could do as much as hurt me, if these servants continued to grow along with the legendary creatures, they’d surely pose a threat in the future. If the army was big enough, they could endanger even the universe! And so, it’s common sense that we should never let a legendary creature have more than two blood servants.”

“I imagine the number is much higher already, considering that it was an ‘elixir’ with such magical effects,” Zurdon frowned.

“Mhm, there should be more than a hundred people, if not more,” Emily nodded her head. Well, they are just pawns and even I’m just a descendant. If looked at like that, Master didn’t go past the limit. She has only two direct blood servants and Master Dred has only one. Haah, it’d be nice to receive their blood and become an Overlord, like Master Audrey and the others, she sighed in her mind.

Though… clearly, being a devourer is bound to turn her into a target, beyond or under the limit matters little at this point.

“That’s terrible news,” Zurdon grunted. “Let’s make haste and clean up this mess. All of them should be eradicated as quickly as possible,” grabbing Emily’s hand, he left for the academy.

But much to his dismay, he soon had to find out that the students that drank the elixir disappeared without a trace. Although he tried to sense people travelling in space, out of Ketarn, he couldn’t find more than a few people. If hundreds of people moved out, he’d have surely sensed them, or so he thought.

“Emily, when did you send your servant to me?” thinking that maybe the information got to him too late, he asked.

“Uhm- about two days ago…” she muttered. Hearing her reply, Zurdon’s eyes twitched.

“Two days? Why did it take two fucking days to deliver that fucking elixir to me?!” he flared up.

“I don’t know. Why don’t you ask him?” she raised her brows.

“Good idea… I’m going to exchange a few words with him,” he said, cracking his fingers.

Emily knew that her servant wouldn’t live much longer, after all, it was because of him that the message was delivered late and the servants most likely got away from Ketarn. Now there was a potential threat of a legendary creature that was trying to overtake the land. Thinking that far, she was sure that her father would contact other powerful figures of the universe and request their assistance. Nobody wanted to see a group of lunatic blood servants grow up and turn into their enemies, much less with the backing of a legendary creature.

As it turned out, the servant was intercepted by a few pretty ladies, who entertained him for two days… Although Emily knew that it was her Master’s doing, she wouldn’t tell something like that to her father. It was better if the servant died while her father thought that he was just an idiot playboy.

Emily returned to her room while her father visited a few places and started meditating. She also reported the turn of events to Elena, making sure that her Master wouldn’t be caught by surprise. Just as she finished her report, Zurdon appeared in the middle of her room once he finished ‘cleaning up’ the servant, and said, “Emily, please stay here for a few days, you may go back to the academy a bit later. I need to contact a few people. You see, I’ve just thought of something else.”

“Father, I told you many times not to teleport into my room!” Emily jumped up from her bed.

“Fine, fine, this is more important than your privacy,” he sighed.

“What could it be?” Emily asked.

“I told you before that there are ten legendary creatures, but after talking with another expert, he pointed out something important. Most legendary creatures don’t like crowds and wouldn’t keep a large entourage. Because of this, it’s rare for legendary creatures to go beyond the accepted limit,” he explained.

“Yes, and?” she nodded her head.

“Actually, there is one more legendary creature, but it’s not a common one. Unlike the other ten, it isn’t born unless a few conditions are met…”

“What could it be?” Emily sat up on her bed, visibly excited to hear the end of her father’s explanation.

“This race is born when one of the creators make it happen. Although I don’t know the exact details since I’m not a creator, I know that this eleventh kind of legendary creature is called the Devourer.”

“And their sole reason for existence is that…”

“They want to destroy the universe!”