Notes from the demon king, Page 146:

Of all the different races. Elves remained the most human. In fact There isn't a huge difference between a human and an elf on the surface. Despite what earth media says they don't live that much longer than humans, only about a year more on average and I think that's mostly cultural lifestyle choices. They don't have more magic than any other race. They aren't somehow ‘in tune with nature’ at least not any more than any human.

So, what really separates elves and humans so much that they have to be considered different races? I mean they could just be humans with pointed ears if people decided to call them that.

there are a few things.

For one all elves are objectively attractive, most of the women have almost cartoonish hourglass figures with boobs, hips, and butts that would kill on onlyfans back on earth and the men aren't far off with hips and booties that rival their female counter parts, plus dicks the size of my forearm.

But if that was all we would just call them hot pointed eared humans,

The second thing is how their minds work. They are mostly the same as anyone else, but elves all seem to excel in tasks that require thinking. Particularly analysis, resource management, and delegation. Now that doesn't mean that all elves are smart I've met some pretty idiotic ones. but it does mean that they will do better in a task that requires them to keep up with something (say a banker) then a task that requires them to use brute strength, especially since they're not really built for strength, their bodies are very slender other than the ‘protrusions’ which comes at the cost of physical power.

But that still isn't enough for them to be considered a entirely different race is it? no there's one last thing that's really sets them apart.

The major difference that occurred in the elven mana system from the mutation of the meteor is how their systems react to external stimuli. By changing.

If you put an elf in a dark cave as they progressed through the stages of mana cultivation, they would slowly change on a genetic level, growing to be more comfortable in their new environment. In short elves very quickly adapt and evolve, never to something inhuman I don't think they can become say an animal, but they do change. Quickly developing entirely different subraces.

The high elves are elves that spent generations in an area with highly concentrated mana.

Dark elves have lived underground for the last couple centuries.

Mountain elves are adapted to the cold and thin air up in the Wildpeaks.

Moon elves are nocturnal from working night shifts.

Blood elves are bred for battle.

So on and so forth.

There are likely as many types of elves as there are conditions to survive in, so much so that most people just call them all elves was until they need to be specific. And as fascinating as elf evolution is so many factors effect it that long term study is needed to get any complete answers.

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Chapter seven

Hailey-

Hailey whooped in joy!

After a ton of trial and error, mostly error, she thought she had the solution to the puzzle.

It was a number puzzle, she was sure of it. If you started at the right point, the sets of black doors always had a difference of three with the closest black set to the left of them. The white doors, then must be the answers, ...maybe. There was no pattern to them, but she hadn’t seen a set of three yet. She hoped when she found it one of those would be her door.

Randomly picking east, Hailey jogged in that direction searching for her theorized trio of gates.

The Demon King clopped alongside her, keeping up with no effort in his equine form,

“Did you figure it out or are we just getting some cardio?”

"I think did…” Hailey answered unsurely, “We’ll see” She explained her thought process to him, The demon nodding in approval.

“Smart. I’ll keep an eye out for a trio of white doors. I can’t believe she’s in a party with that doofus.” he ignored the look Hailey gave him and continued “How are you going to tell which gate is actually yours?”

“I… was just gonna guess. At worst, I’ll fail twice. After all this,” she waved, gesturing around them “the prospect of two more challenges doesn't seem as bad as it did before.” She answered, somewhat ashamed.

“Now that’s the thought process of a mage. Why take the easier way out when the hard path will be easier.” The Demon King said this as if he were saying something profound, but too Hailey’s ears it just sounded like nonsense.

It wasn't long after that that Hailey spotted what she was looking for.

A lone set of three houses each with a pristine white door. She nearly cheered at the sight, the only reason she didn't being her embarrassment at the thought of the Demon King seeing her act like a little girl.

She practically ran over, nearly tripping over her own feet several times as she reached out for the nob of the middle door, almost forgetting that she had the key to her eye. Hailey scrambled to unlock the door. Time seemed to slow as she turned the lock with batted breath.

Rather than sucking her into another challenge as she expected or ejecting her back into the real world like she hoped, as soon as the lock clicked Hailey’s entire soulspace began to rumble as if there was a magnitude ten earthquake localized entirely with in her.

It was a strange sensation, feeling the same event take place both within yourself and the environment you existed in. the feeling made her nearly double over with nausea, but it was nothing compared to what happened next.

Hailey felt the door pull from her grasp as the three houses seemed to get dragged into each other, falling to pieces as they did. The pile of building components began to orbit itself until the elf stood in front of a tornado of wood, glass, bricks, and other bits of material.

Hailey stared dumbstruck. Her confusion shifting to fear as she saw that the Demon king looked just as shocked as she felt.

“I-Is this normal…!?”

“Fuck no!” The demon shouted with a look of absolute disbelief on his face, "I have NO idea what going on right now!”

They watched as the spinning slowed, the pieces being placed down in a deliberate manner. A new building forming in front of their eyes.

Hailey felt something within her thrum with every brick laid, every nail hammered.

Before she knew it, it was done.

Standing where three suburban houses had stood before was a mansion. Tall and elaborate, It towered over the rest of the houses like a titan. Its pillars and yard work setting it apart even more so. What was maybe the most interesting, though was the fact that it only had one door.

Hailey looked to the Demon King, receiving a silent nod as her only answer.

She stepped forward, placed the key in the lock, and turned it.

Power rushed into her as concepts assaulted her mind.

The angel and healing she would have expected, but it came along with the sun and stars, the glow of a lantern, the refection off a pond, a rainbow through a prism... and eye’s. Eyes of all shapes and forms. Human eyes, bird eyes, fish eyes, cat eyes, the artificial eyes of golems, all conceivable eyes flashed through her head and for an instant she understood all the intricacies of the sensory organs, although that information was gone as soon as it came.

Hailey shuddered as she broke out of the trance. She was still in front of the mansion but the world around her had changed. Silhouettes of winged people floated through the sky and many sources of light, from lamps to the sun, littered her soul space. Eyes floated over it, all watching impassively. Strangely, Hailey didn't find them creepy. Just odd.

The demon king looked confused and was muttering to himself

“Eyes are intrinsic of a sight affinity, but we have angels here as well, plus I’ve seen her use holy magic… and all the lights… She only opened one door, one key… so why…” He turned to Hailey seeming to notice she was up as soon as it happened “are you sure you used holy spells before?”

"I think so. That's what the book said…”

“That is what it felt like. And I’m a demon. I can feel when holy magic is used, just like Betty can feel demonic spells…”

Hailey didn't know who Betty was but decided not to interrupt.

“Hailey, come here for a second I need to check something”

Hailey hesitated for a moment but ultimately decided that if the Demon King wanted to harm her he could probably force it on her.

The Demon watched as she approached less to look at her as into her, his expression growing more muddled with each second.

“Stand still for a moment” he instructed and then, without warning slammed a palm strike (hoof-strike?) into her stomach similarly to when he had activated her core.

Hailey felt as if the world wobbled for a moment, tearing as if it were being split in two, then the sensation passed, and she was looking at the demon king, now back in his humanoid form, stoking his chin as he stared at what looked like a complex stick figure, or a wire sculpture of a person, with a ball of yellow, white, and gold light floating in its belly. Hailey could feel as the breeze brushed up against the thing. It felt as if intangible feathers were passing through her skin only to lightly graze her nerves directly.

“W-what is that thing…?”

“It’s your mana network…” the demon king answered distractedly “Since we’re in your soul space I was able to pull it out to take a look at it… one core… channels in hands are partially active but that’s to be expected of a caster… the rest are still dormant… but the core…”

“Well c-can you hurry up and put it back! The air tickles…” The elf complained trying her hardest not to squirm.

“Yeah yeah…” The demon murmured, clearly not listening. “...That doesn’t make sense…”

“Can you at least explain what going on, because I'm getting a bit concerne-EEP!” Hailey let out an involuntary squeak as the demon king poked a bit of her network, causing a sensation like sparks made of bubbles and spiders to jolt across her system.

“It doesn’t respond to mana like a noble stage’s would’ve… so it’s just a first trial core?... but” He poked her again, causing Hailey to make another embarrassing sound. “Interesting…”

The demon suddenly bolted upright, a grin stretching across his face. Hailey mana network dissipated into light and flowed back int her, it felt good to not have a part of her soul exposed to… well another part of her soul she guessed.

“You are a VERY interesting specimen, Hailey”

“Uh… how so?”

“Your core is multi-elemental. Specifically, light, holy, and sight mana. Most people have separate cores for each element they have an affinity with until they’re second-trials, the noble stage, but you don’t. You have three affinities, which is the average for an elven woman, but their all mashed up into one ball. It’s weird, I’ve never seen this before.”

Hailey frowned “what... does that mean… like for me being a mage… a healer?”

“Nothing bad, I don’t think... I don’t actually know how it will effect your magic in the long run, maybe it won’t matter after the second stage though, I doubt that. What I do know is that you may be able to use multielement spells now. Which is exceedingly impressive. We’ll need to do some experimentation later. For now, we should leave. Ali finished a while ago and Kenn just got out," the demon king laughed "I almost forgot about Kenn! Two anomalies in one day.” he chuckled, turned to the mansion door and stepped through.

Hailey following after him