(Ashen POV)

It has been three days since my wedding with Xylith, and we have spent much of it together. She accompanies me for many hours of the day, and even sleeps in my bedroom now, though we don’t share the bed due to my physical needs not matching hers. Demons need sleep every other day or so, as their mana keeps their body energized. But all the same, we have grown together, and the large city in the demon lands seems to respect me more due to our marriage. Speaking of that city, I was informed that they had named it, and it was a satisfactory name. The large, now a capital-sized lake of buildings, was named: Apoctaclass (a-pock-tuh-class).

I have been neglecting my World System console as of late, but I can only assume it is filled with random logs, if not completely useless notifications. My mind kept changing objectives too quickly to enjoy the fruits of my accomplishments. But luckily for me, the World System doesn’t need to replace old text, so I could always read back on what I missed. I figured I gained a title or a few, like when I did the play and immediately received them, but most of the time I have Vron blocking them out to not distract me. Now that my mind is thinking of it again, there was nothing to do but browse my console as I waited for Xylith to wake, as she normally does in a few minutes. I opened my console to the system log tab and I was dominated by the sheer amount of notifications.

[Followers Gained: Urbanus Bristol, Huey Lancaster, Aldo Godwin, Joleigh Ashley, Olga Richmond, Cali Addington, Slania Swale, Ella Davenport, Amy Atterton, Ernstina Roscoe, Xavierra Trollope, Malina Hamet, Gerdi Harding, Vardan Peyton, Dariel Williams, Spike Chester, Torben Wheatleigh, Edsel Soames, Tassilo Smythe, Moritz Brandon, Warfield Reeves, Kennedy Hale, Syd Nash, Heidrun Snape, Lacy Garside, Alondra Hornsby, Ansley Myerscough, Camyron Swale, Margaret Kendal, Dick Notley, Regina Graham, Thalia Whitley, Trude Davenport…]

The screen just filled with pages of text, and after the first hundred human-sounding names they changed to more demonic ones, and eventually, I found some names that I did recognize king Arthur Redskill, the king of the Britgar Holy Kingdom. There was also Jurkunnag from Apoctaclass, one of the elders. There was also Thalenburn, the wizard I met in Highfield Meadows. I spotted a few names that sounded repeated, and made a mental note on them, while also asking Vron to tally up the numbers, but the World System did that before he could.

[Current Followers: 12,690] [Titles Gained: Minor Deity, Local Deity, God-King, Holy King’s God, Power God, God of Flames, God of Magic, Magical Deity, Royal Deity, King’s Ambassador] [Awarding 4,285 Attribute and Skill Points] [Deity Follower Tree Unlocked]

So many Attribute and Skill points! I can’t believe it! Does becoming a god boost your power by that much? This would explain why everyone is so afraid of the gods, even without knowing the sheer level difference between them and mortal men. If they can gain so much power by simply being believed as gods, then I would have to capitalize on it. I should make use of the attribute points I was given, and upgrade my stats while I still have the chance. I should also take the chance to look through my [Skill Tree] and see if there was anything worth investigating in that field. Without much thought, I automatically put my points into their proper placement and felt a surge of power that made me feel like a bomb about to explode.

[Strength: 850]

[Dexterity: 700]

[Constitution: 800]

[Intelligence: 4300]

[Wisdom: 3800]

[Charisma: 100]

[Vitality: 1000]

[Willpower: 3600]

[Luck: 650]

[Perception: 500]

I also had just over a hundred Attribute points left, but without much use for them, I let them be. It seemed as though my upgrades had awakened my slumbering wife, as she shot up out of bed, physically. She jumped from the bed and I caught her in my arms to stop her from slamming into the floor or, more likely, me. I felt what she did, and Vron had been violently ejected from my tail as a result, creating a body at the foot of the bed. My mana pool felt like it was unstable, and soon I felt the sense that something bad was going to happen and tried to put Xylith down to teleport away to prevent harm from coming to her, but before I could teleport she hugged my back and got transported with me to the middle of some barren grounds in the demon lands.

My mana pool swirled around with violent intent and soon started to condense into my body. After moving several meters away from Xylith, I used [Mana Sensory, Magic Detection, Magic Eyes, and Mana Vision] to try to piece together what was going on. It seemed as though the large beacon of light that was my mana was being compressed into my actual body and being shoved into my chest. It wouldn’t take much thinking to realize my heart could be in danger, and as such, I need to find out if this was safe or not for Xylith to be here. But before anything, my body seemed to become a solid pillar of mana, just far away enough from Xylith as to not touch her directly.

To all who were awake at the early hour of dawn would have seen a thick line reach across the sky into the abyss of space. The light was as bright as the sun and mana-rich enough to instantly charge over a hundred thousand tier 26th spells. I felt what was happening, and regretted not keeping Xylith back, as I was transforming into my demon form, forcefully. My body was constantly being shrouded in light to the point that not even I could notice my transformation visually. But when the pillar collapsed and returned to its neutral state of being a large cloud around me, I had already become what I never became before.

Now towering overall, I stood at a monstrous thirty meters tall, with my normal body being immensely scaled up, my body remaining in proportion with one another. My face felt odd, but what was once illusionary and fake, had become real, and now my face was that of real flesh. My mana itself had not changed, but now, with all that I had done to my Willpower stat, along with Intelligence and Wisdom, I had a mana pool over eighty billion mana, while still having a regeneration rate of a few hundred million a second. I was unsure as to a way of reacting, but before anything else, I forcefully changed back into my normal, half-demon figure. The one thing I had realized while in my true demon form, was that my level was increased by fifty, making me on par with a world boss in Sugarea.

My body erupted back into a pillar of mana and soon my body shrunk to it’s normal, but still rather large, stature. My mana still retained it’s quantity while its density was increased beyond that of any magic potion I knew of, being trumped by the mana of admins, as they were made to be unbeatable, but it wasn’t a large gap anymore. My first action was to check on Xylith then to see if anything had changed with her or the ground, as I didn’t want a mountain-sized golem to wander around because I wasn’t cautious. I was glad to find her safe, but her face reflected her awe and amazement perfectly. Her lips quivered without an utter, and I reached out to her and picked her up in my arms, with a healing spell at the ready just in case.

She reached her hand up to my new face of flesh and touched the bottom half of what was now a vertical line over my left eye. The line was undoubtedly a scar, but it glowed with a faint reddish-orange and warm hue, one that the Crystal Fire Skull did. It didn’t sting or hurt in the slightest, but I knew what this meant, and I have been preparing for this moment ever since my isolation in the castle. Damage to one’s soul can be mended with magic, but some wounds can never heal completely. For instance, the old lord of Wheatberg, I had healed what I could of his soul, but since he signed a soul contract and had split his soul, it could never truly be fixed. But that is to say, a perfect replica, for both his soul and mine, is in a state of perfect health, but not completion.

But for my soul to be damaged would have to imply something taking a piece of it, or at the very least, it still exists within the fields of existence of this world. [Locate Object], a tier 12th spell, and [Definitive Location], a tier 24th spell, both turned up nothing. The meaning behind this was simple, the part of my soul that is missing either does not exist, cannot be returned, or is not located within any reachable destination that this world can lead me to. Although, I didn’t get anything from my search, as I got a scatter of locations all across the globe, and one was directly on me. The only event that I could think of that would be even remotely related to what was happening now would be when my Crystal Fire Skull leveled up for the first time and shot out hundreds of crystals into the world.

I would have to ask Titan if he had collected any of the crystals, but for the time being, I should return Xylith to the castle. “Are you alright?” I have been adapting to my new-found voice of emotion, and have been trying to familiarize myself with it once more.

She hesitated for a moment but responded with a shaking voice. “Y-yes! I’m fine!” And she just held me tightly. “I was so scared. I thought you were going to kill me! Your mana was overwhelming my body and if you didn’t stop when you did, I don’t think my heart would have survived.” I nearly forgot, a demon’s heart was their source of mana and magic, and as such, if they were overwhelmed with magic or had their mana replaced, they would have a high chance of failing or just detonating like a bomb.

I didn’t even want to imagine what could have been, but instead, I returned her embrace. “My apologies, I don’t know what to say.” We took a moment to ourselves and I continued. “I know this might be hard, but if you can, please refrain from telling Aeyrs of this, or any other for that matter. I don’t want to worry them.” She nodded slightly and I could tell she meant it.

“I won’t tell another soul. But if I may ask, was that your true form?” I should have known that a demon lord would know it, even normal demons had a ‘true’ form, with some being closely related to their original appearance and others not so much.

“It is, but I wish to not use it, even if necessary. I do not want to indulge in racial issues of myself.” It was hard to word, but I just didn’t want to be a demon in full, as I wanted to remain at least partially human while I had this form, even in Sugarea.

“I’m not sure I understand your true intentions, but I get the general gist of what you mean. If you don’t want to use your true form then, I won’t tell another soul, I promise!” She said, regaining her usual child-like personality, although, what she would say next would completely contradict her childish voice she would speak in. “So when do you want to make an heir?” I would have done a spit-take if I was unprepared for this or had water in my mouth.

“Settle down, we don’t need a kid so soon.” I have yet to even use the restroom in this body, and I don’t think reproduction should be the first thing I do with my ‘regional parts’.

“But!” I cut her off, by very lightly, by my standards, doing a hand chop onto her forehead to interrupt her, not doing any real damage but just enough to make her stumble with her reasoning.

“At least wait for us to be married for longer, and you to be a few decades older before asking.” She pouted slightly but returned another sentence of reasoning.

“You know, I have given birth over three dozen times in my previous incarnations.” I nearly forgot she has been reincarnated over a dozen times, but that doesn’t change what I said. “Besides, pregnancy for me only lasts two or three months…” She said with a face that would only imply certain ‘actions’.

It would be impossible for me not to understand what she meant, and I only flicked her nose to get her off the subject. “Then wait a while longer before asking. Besides, I wish you-” I was interrupted by a violent rumble from the ground.

I mentally prepared for a mountain-sized golem, or for another titanic monster to invade from the ground, but the shaking only worsened the longer it went on for, and as such, I lifted Xylith and held her in my arms to prevent her from being taken from me if I were to engage in combat. It wouldn’t take long to dispose of whatever creature would erupt from the ground, but all things considered, if possible, I shouldn’t kill it if it is avoidable. The ground broke apart, and what looked like thousands of little arms and legs were finding their way to the surface, Light skin, six digits per hand, thick beards, round faces, large eyes, and little hair on the tops of their heads, it was obvious what they were.

“Hey! The Scrapbeard gnome tribe! They were supposedly dead or missing! But here they were just hiding out in the abandoned caverns of Ulodon!” I guess Xylith had a relationship with them, or at least she did before their ‘disappearance’.

[Mana-Infusion has affected 34,826 Gnomes, 132 Goblins, 16 Gnolls, 4 Fae, and 1 Raebeck] [Subject Management Tab Unlocked]

There were no points awarded, but at the very least I got a new tab for the world system. It appeared on the far right and was quite expansive when selected. It had in many smaller tabs, each reading different things, like race, gender, level, ethnicity, elemental affinity, individual stat points, and by the rarity of skills and/or spells. Each tab had other tabs inside, like a desktop folder with dozens of branches. I quickly flipped through the list of races and realized that the dracolich I encountered earlier was still there, but had a zero next to it, indicating that I have no dracolich subjects, instead, something called a Draco-pyre-lich, a hybrid of a dragon lich and a fire spirit, or so the description said.

“Lady Xylith!” A few gnomes said aloud, and some of them froze, and despite the notification stating I got more than just gnomes, I have yet to spot any.

“Xylith, I presume you know these people?” She looked up at me, as she was still in my arms and responded.

“Well, yes?” That was a very thorough explanation, but she elaborated further. “I think I did a few reincarnations ago, but I can’t remember exactly. I just remember knowing about them from all the books I read every reincarnation.” That does answer a few questions but leads the way for many more to be created.

“Then how do they recognize you?” She thought for a moment before staring down one of the many gnomes that were now on the broken surface of the rock.

“I don’t know, maybe they were spying on us? Or had information delivered to them by an outside source, or just magic. But I doubt the ladder, as gnomes were one of them, well, ‘fallen’ races.” A fallen race, I heard that term before, but I can’t recall where, most likely Misfortune.

“So you think that they don’t have a way to use magic as freely as demons could, for instance.” That would explain why they had fae, or fairies as they were more commonly called, but why have goblins?

“Well, I could be wrong, and they might have a secret way of casting magic, but I doubt they could without the help of a more magically attuned race, one that can use magic as freely or efficiently as demons or higher.” Well, that would explain the presence of fae in their numbers, and why none would have shown themselves, as they would be kept far underground, away from the reach of prying eyes and hands.

“Do you suppose they could use fae for such a purpose? As a magical conduit of sorts?” My words made some gnomes seize up for a moment, likely the ones that knew about the fae, or at least the ones that were the most involved.

“It’s definitely possible, but the only source of fae even remotely close would be the great fairy rings, or the Faerie’s Twilight, a forest on the other side of the mountains, but I doubt they would be able to get there considering the dwarves and all.” So there were dwarves present also? I would have to investigate them and these ‘great fairy rings’ she spoke of.

“Very well then,” I said to Xylith and turned my attention to the large crowd of gnomes that is still growing. “Would any of you, my loyal subjects, care to tell me of the situation?” Those three additional words piqued everyone’s interest, even Xylith.

“Loyal subjects?” She asked me, and I looked at her in return.

“But of course. As these fine folk’s mana has been replaced by my own, and as such, are mine to do what I please with.” She had a face of astonishment, and the gnomes had many of displeasure and fright.

“Settle yourselves.” An old gnome said, his beard dragging on the ground, and his meter sixty-centimeter-tall body was wrinkled and in his hands was a gnarly wooden stick that acted as his cane.

From the reaction of respect that emanated from the crowd of gnomes, and his voice, I presumed him to be an elder or at least someone of great rank, the status of power. “Great Alaio, you’re still alive?” Xylith blurted out, her curiosity getting the better of her.

I saw the old gnome shrug slightly as if he didn’t know how to react to being presumed dead. “I’ve lived for far longer than most should, but that doesn’t impede my wisdom. And as for you,” he said, looking at my now real eyes, “What would make us your ‘loyal subjects’?” It could have been a racial feature, but the dracolich I forcefully replaced mana with had a much more violent reaction.

“The mark of my mana has been sewn deep within your souls. This extends to the other races you kept beneath the ground, like the fae and goblins.” His eyes narrowed slightly and his brow twitched, but his overall composure remained unchanged.

“And what do you expect that changes for us? Us gnomes have no talent for magic, and as such having our mana replaced won’t harm us in the slightest.” If that is the case, then perhaps I could change their species from fallen to normal, if that was possible.

“You all will declare an everlasting loyalty, and as such, your species will be saved from extinction.” With my words came a crushing aura of despair, and it caused the majority of the gnomes to collapse, even Xylith was feeling uneasy.

“You should know that a fallen species losses most senses of reason, and trying to tackle one with brute force will only work against you.” It appears that he had some magical item that grants him some resistance or immunity to despair or similar effects, and his intelligence seemed on par with a human.

“If it is a fight you wish for, then let it be, but I grant you one chance of fair trial. Give me any set of challenges, if I complete them all, you bow to me, if not I leave your tribe alone.” The gnomes whispered to one another, most being guttural taunts and unintelligible grunts but some being discernable as general insults.

“Trying to mock us? Very well, we will accept your offer. Here are your three trials. First, slay a dragon. Second, kill a thousand demons or similarly powerful monsters. Third, become a god. Do these and then we can surrender ourselves to you.” Xylith seemed concerned but I quickly reassured her with my following actions.

“Care to make a contract if that’s the case?” I made a scroll appear in my hand and held it up.

“If that is what it takes for you to fool yourself, then fine.” He walked forward and took the scroll and a quill.

With a thorough glance through the words followed by a sloppy signature, the contract floated up and glowed brightly with a green light. “The contract is complete, here is the proof.”

I made the world system appear at the end of my hand and pointed it at his face. Firstly, I showed the [Dragon Slayer] title, and his face seemed to worry slightly. Then I swapped tabs to the log and scrolled up to the point where I slaughtered the massive army of demons a few months back. His face looked severely more worried as he looked at the message, and his eyes couldn’t stay still, but he seemed to calm himself. I presumed that he could never have thought that I could be a god, to which I showed him my god titles, [Minute Deity, Minor Deity, Local Deity, God-King, Holy King’s God, Power God, God of Flames, God of Magic, Magical Deity, Royal Deity]. His jaw dropped nearly to the ground, but his eyes couldn’t remain steady any longer, and he fell to his knees speechless.

“Wait! Ashen, you’re a god!?” I nearly forgot I didn’t tell anyone besides Aeyrs that I was a god, but figured that Misfortune knew too.

“Simply put, yes. Complicatedly put, also yes, in every aspect, I am considered a god.” I might be lying on the fact that I am or at least was human, but it seems that in this world, I am a true god in every sense of the word.

“I had no idea, I could never have imagined…” She trailed off, and I turned my attention to the gnome on the ground before me.

“Have you any questions, or are you ready to start integrating into society?” I planned on sending some gnomes to Wheatberg, but if they truly had an intelligence lower than that of a dog, then I couldn’t risk it.

“Yes, let’s get on with it.” His spirit sounded broken and his face looked to have an undertone of concern for him and the other gnomes.

“You need not worry about slavery or annihilation, as I would prefer neither. Think of it as a sort of, protecting ally. One that will shield you from cataclysmic threats in exchange for partial authority over your populace.” My general idea was to gather all of the demi-human races and get them to rally together to prevent them from being hunted down and either slaughtered or enslaved by the other races that had more power or standing in this world.

I would need to ensure a mutual trust gets established between us before trying anything dramatic, like a racial change of a degree high enough to raise them back to where they were before or at least to human levels. “If what you say is true, then we could agree with that, but further discussion will be needed to refine and perfect plans and actions for the future.” The old gnome said, and he started walking towards the large hole in the ground that the gnomes were starting to retreat into.

“Xylith, have you any conditions you can apply to ease their minds? Something that would be a greater incentive than protection?” I finally put her on the ground, and she stretched a little before responding.

“I don’t think it would be easy, if possible, but if you could restore some of their former abilities to them, like their ingenious minds or ingenuity, then that would be worth more than anything else to them, as they were quite fond of their brilliance in the past.” So they were the stereotypical inventor gnomes that were in Sugarea after all.

“I would have to agree that it wouldn’t be easy, but it is by no right impossible, at least not to someone like me.” I opened the world system in the corner of my vision and started searching for some kind of spell that could assist with my ‘experimenting’.

Over the next three hours, I met with a dozen more gnomes that seemed to have more control of their minds than the rest, and as such, it was much easier to converse with them and establish everything we needed. I granted them citizenship status within my kingdom and informed them of my plans to restore their glory, even if only partially. And after the long meeting of terms and conditions, we eventually got to the good part, as I finally found something that would assist me in my work to uplift them. It would seem that my experience with the dracolich from Wheatberg has helped quite a lot in this endeavor. It would only be a matter of time before a breakthrough were to happen, and until it does, I had other matters that needed my attention.

After a round of goodbyes with them, I teleported me and Xylith back to the guild base and back into my bedroom, where I was promptly greeted by Vron, who has been laying in my bed waiting for my return. “Father! You’ve returned!” His young voice was filled with energy and seemed eager to welcome me back.

“Apologies Vron, I didn’t mean to go such a long time without contacting you.” He seemed eager to see me again and responded without delay.

“No father, it is perfectly fine. But in the time I spent waiting, I have gathered some interesting notes for you.” He said while taking out a small stack of papers from a magical storage spell.

He handed them to me and I quickly glanced over a few, surprised by several pages of findings. “Vron, how did you test these?” The papers were filled with frantic scribings of four magical runes I have never seen before, but I could feel their connection to Null magic.

“Jolven had come by, he was the first to notice what happened as his existence is magically tied to yours, as is mine, and he allowed me to run some tests with his abilities. It would seem that his abilities are being developed on a scale that seems impossible!” The fact that Jolven can be influenced by my magical action was obvious, but the fact that he could develop magical runes that neither of us has any knowledge of was something unforeseeable and incredibly opportunistic for my current situation.

“What kind of runes are these? They don’t look like anything elemental-” Xylith caught her tongue, but couldn’t hold back a terrified look on her face.

“Xylith, have you seen these runes before?” I got a bad feeling about this, and if she had seen this before it could complicate things.

“The ancient tome of magics, kept locked away in my former castle. Only the demon lords have read and written what is in them. It was thought that whoever tried using them ended up causing a great disaster, one being the fall of an entire race.” Does Null magic truly have the power to affect the entirety of a species?

“Vron, what tests have you done with these runes?” I needed to ensure that he didn’t accidentally cause the downfall of a race or something similar.

“Father, I have done nothing in the sense of activating the runes themselves. I have only studied the formation, development, and magical properties of the runes in an inactive state. Jolven was only able to understand what they would do when activated but has not activated them as of yet.” I sighed an actual breath of relief and calmed my nerves for the moment.

“Who else in the castle is aware of this and my mana surge?” I hoped with everything I could that Aeyrs didn’t know about this, as him worrying is the last thing I want right now.

“Many of the maids and butlers have noted a large brief charge and discharge of mana, along with many of the others. But for the most part, they all thought it as you engage in some magical research or practice since it came from your private quarters. A few are still on the cautious side and wanted to speak with you about the issues, but I had to inform them of your departure and agreed to pass the message onto you when you came back.” I could manage with that but needed to make sure of Aeyrs.

“And what about my brother, was he aware of the event?” My mind was racing with all that happened, soon I would need time to recollect my thoughts and calm my uneasy mind, but that would have to wait for now.

“Aeyrs had left on an expedition earlier, and as such he left before dawn and has been out with Oronix ever since. It would be unwise to assume he wouldn’t be informed eventually, but for the time being, he seems unaware.” His words quenched my mind, and I calmed immediately.

I instantly changed my armor for the clothing I wore for the play with the Star-Mates and laid in my bed to remove my mental exhaustion. “Xylith, please tell Vron of everything that happened to the best of your ability, and Vron, please start researching a way to complete the goal. In the meantime, I need to clear my mind of all that has clouded it.” I drifted off into a cold state of unconsciousness, one that I have yet to feel since I came to this world.

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(Aeyrs POV)

The freshness of the morning air wasn’t long-lasting, and soon what could only be described as an impregnable wave of mana. It slammed into me like a magnet to a fridge and soon my morning stroll through the Faerie’s Twilight turned into one of survival. The mana burned my blood and felt like an absolute raw flame slowly boiling my body like a lobster in a pot. There was no doubt that It came from the demon lands, and I had nearly no doubt that it wasn’t from Ashen, but I couldn’t worry about that right now. Instead, I had to focus on surviving this experience, as my dragon body was rupturing and popping in places with some scales being sent all over like a shotgun.

I started to burn through my abilities, some to heal, others to protect, and some to increase my defense both physically and magically. I started to take flight, as the mana density of the wave lessened exponentially, and after moving a few kilometers, the effects of the heat seemed to almost disappear. My draconic body pulsed in shockwaves and started to force me back into my human normal form. The transformation felt painful, deathly so, and every moment up to the last was filled with ever-growing pain. I landed shortly before I would have crashed down, and now in the middle of empty grasslands.

I punched the ground and a large crystal-like material spiked up and allowed me to check my reflection. The first thing I noticed was a large black mark over my right eye. A deep and clean scar skipped my eye but went from my forehead to my mouth. The second thing I noticed was something far less important, on-lookers. I swiveled around on my feet, to them it looked like an instant event and looked at one as hard as I could. They had the appearance of a half-human half-bunny or half-rabbit. They had rather poor clothing and carried primitive weapons, most likely for self-defense rather than hunting based on their unusually crude nature.

There were four or five of them, and the one I stared at was the first to fall backward in fright, but the rest followed quickly after. “Hello there,” I said simply, the new scar on my face seemed to impose an irregular level of fear, and even I felt scared to a small degree.

None of them spoke, at least not audibly, as the only response was a high-pitched shriek, but nothing understandable. [Learn Language] was a spell to instantly learn the language of a species, as long as you have spoken to them in a non-aggressive manner. When Ashen used it back when we first came to this world, with the people in the carriage, it only worked because they were already offering us a ride, and as such, with these people acting scared, it was not a non-aggressive manner. Communication was nearly impossible on a verbal scale, at least if they were to speak in a language I have not yet familiarized myself with, as I have already learned standard tongue, elvish, dwarvish, demonic, gnomish, and orcish.

“W-w-what are you doing he-here mister!?” One of them said, slowly standing up with a stick that had a pointed stone tied onto the end rather poorly, and lucky for me, they spoke standard tongue.

“Sorry, I just had a tumble,” I said while cracking my neck, as my entire body was now stiff from the fall. “Don’t worry about me, I won’t eat you just yet.” I followed my words with a wicked smile revealing my many sharp teeth, just to entertain myself before I left.

“How did you get here, m-mister!?” They tried to hide their fright, failed, but they tried nonetheless.

“Didn’t you see me land here?” I wasn’t exactly hidden, nor was it likely that they wouldn’t have felt the mana pulse.

“No, we were hiding underground from the slave traders.” That would explain their rough condition, but dealing with all of these other races, I only dealt with the dwarves and the more intelligent races.

“So, do you need something from me?” I wasn’t the best choice for conversing with others, but in terms of ease between me and my brother, I was much more approachable and easier to talk to. “Just spit it out.” I could take them to Wheatberg but I wouldn’t force them, nor would I care if they refused.

“W-where are you heading m-mister?” I think it was male, but it’s unusually high-pitched voice made it hard to tell.

“To a dungeon, care to join me?” If these rabbit people still want to bother me even if I said I was going to a dungeon, then I guess I could let them follow me.

He hesitated and looked back to the group but they all quickly came to a decision. “Y-yes! Please allow us to join you!” he said and they all lowered their heads, and they looked pathetic, but I guess that another species would be a decent gift to Ashen, not that I would treat them like livestock, but I did know that he enjoyed the micro-management of all of the people that were now under his ‘domain’.

“Fine, but afterward, what do you plan on doing? My brother owns a city that you could reside in, you wouldn’t need to worry about slave traders, and you would have a long list of additional benefits should you choose to stay there.” I just hoped they didn’t want to stay with me, or at the very least, only wanted to follow me, as that would be rather bothersome for my plans.

“Yes, sir!” I guess I would have to teach these bunnies how to survive in a dungeon, at least that could lead to the start of my military leadership.

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The Eatherian Plane is a place not so far from the physical one, but that doesn’t mean they are geologically close. The world of Mikarea, with its four moons, lies at the center of the reachable realms, with all of the planes being spread around it, including the Eatherian Plane. An interplanar supermassive magical pulse or an ISMP for short can travel between and through these planes. These irregularly powerful waves of mana can ripple throughout all of the reachable realms, causing massive changes to some and barely touching others. The Eatherian Plane, as a plane made from mostly mana, was affected greatly by the insane amount of mana that pierced directly through the plane, leaving the third massive hole in its surface.

The spike of mana was so great, it even pierced the undoubted leader of the realm, the Puppet Master. And now, her body has a large black streak running down over both of her eyes, leaving two massive scars on her face. The connection she had with the other powerful entities within the reachable realms had caused more harm than good, but she still refused to shed the tether between her, Aeyrs, and Ashen. There are only two beings that could ever know why she does this, and there is one that should never know, but the inevitable truth would be them finding out. When they find out of their relations, something dangerous can leak from their existence, something truly disastrous.

To say that this ISMP was completely bad would be ignoring all of the benefits that they give to the other planes. For instance, the elemental planes can grow in strength greatly with the sheer amount of mana that they collect from the pulses. The mana also saturates and fertilizes the planes to allow for more magical properties to occur, like elemental spawnings and magically created races. The Physical Plane, which is the planet that most mortals reside upon, was the origin of the pulse, and as a result, the magical benefits it gains are far greater than the other realms. In short, the Physical Plane is bound to experience both highs and lows from this event, perhaps even creating a magical anomaly or two…

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(Ashen POV)

It wasn’t hard to tell that the sheer amount of mana that was channeled throughout my body was dangerous, not only to me but to anyone even remotely close. Fortunately, Xylith was completely fine as she recently got a title that granted her complete resistance to mana infusions, [Bride of a God]. Not only did that give her quite the amount of power, but it gave her a constant bubble, one that would be ever-looming protection from any creature dumb enough to underestimate the former demon lord. The title also seemed to reinforce the happiness she carried since we got married, but I knew she still wanted a child, and with everything I had, I didn’t want to reject nor accept the proposal.

“Xylith, have you ever heard of a magically created race called Nalmafor?” Nalmafor was a very strange and misunderstood species that were a mix of the fae, elves, centaurs, and cat-people.

“Nalmafor? I might have… I do remember meeting one, but nothing other than their appearance is all that I do recall, why?” I had several reasons but would have to lay the basic framework for the future first.

“Well, let’s say I had a way to create a species magically. All I need to know is if they already exist or not, or how rare they are. If I could introduce new races to this world that have never been, then there is a chance that their integration into society would be rather rough, saying the least.” I also just missed the variety of life that filled Sugarea and wanted to gaze upon all the beautiful collections that it had.

“Wait, you want to magically create life!?” I could only guess at her concerns but would hear them out.

“Before we get ahead of ourselves, I already know what precautions to take, and how to safely create both their physical and spiritual forms. And depending on what I create, the time it takes will be shorter or longer than a few hours.” Some of the concerns drained from her face, and I presumed she had some hope in me not accidentally summoning some abyssal horror or similar monstrosity.

“I have heard of magically creating living beings in the past, as it was in the tome of magics, but my only concern would be the strain on you. I am very aware of the difference in our power, now more than ever, but to create both a body and a soul without any existing reference would drain millions to even billions of mana!” The cost of creation wasn’t an issue in that case, but how was this process recorded if mortal beings could never harness that level of power?

“Xylith, how was this knowledge documented?” She looked surprised, like she expected a different question, but responded all the same.

“My previous reincarnations have had several encounters with dungeons, and due to their sentient and powerful nature, they create life in small steps until they become a completely new race altogether.” I had learned in the past that dungeons were living beings, but they can create an entire species over time?

“Interesting, but how do dungeons procure such a costly quantity of mana then?” She seemed shocked again, and I presumed she thought that I knew this but I didn’t spend enough time researching this world as vigorously as I should have.

“Dungeons level the same way that every other creature does, but their mana pool also counts as their life in a way. Not in the sense that if it is completely drained they die, but rather they go back into a state of hibernation until they can gain more mana over time or when a living creature with mana enters their domain.” I believe I heard this concept before, it was in a few stories I read while taking breaks from Sugarea.

“Do you know which races have come from a dungeon that is still around today?” There is always the chance that an entire race was wiped off the maps during a total racial war like the one between the humans and elves, but that was limited between two nations, not species.

“If the tome of magics is all true, elves, humans, dwarves, orcs, ogres, and even dragons all came from dungeons.” Perhaps this world has had more people from earth than I thought, as most of those species were common in games and literature.

“Thank you for the knowledge Xylith. But this still leaves me with one question, why do all of those races hate demons so much?” If the dungeons were all from earth, then that would explain the mindset of ‘demons bad, humans good’ that would have been installed into them.

“The exact reason is unknown, but it is believed to be one of two things. The first being the natural difference of the races, with demons using more dark magics than the other races. With the second being from the summoned heroes constantly proclaiming demons as evil which got the churches to eventually declare all demons and associates as natural enemies of people.” The heroes, at least human one, seemed to come from earth, and even the others seemed to come from a similar planet with similar features.

I picked her up in my arms, as she had gotten quite comfortable with me doing so, and held her. “Good and evil are two sides of the same coin. To them, demons may seem evil, but to the demons, they are the ones who are evil” The concept wasn’t hard for her to understand, but she did have a question.

“But if that is the case, the edge of the coin would either be nothingness or a mix of the two, wouldn’t it?” I quickly corrected her, as she had the right idea, but was slightly off.

“Not a mix, but a balance of the two.” I started to feel off with all of the philosophical nonsense I was sprouting, it made sense and was a good way to describe things, but I felt wrong saying it like I was being hypocritical.

“So couldn’t we compare the coin to us?” She said, and I looked at her with a face that didn’t make my confusion clearly shown.

“What do you mean?” I asked to get a more understandable response but her answer only made me regret that.

“You are the face side, I am the bottom side, and our soon-to-be child is the-” I hit her lightly on the head and threw her onto the bed and walked out of the room, making her cry out one last sentence before I left. “Oh come on!”