Allan was looking at the magical tome in front of them.

Arkul who was still in bird form approached and said: “If you start cultivating with this suspicious book, it’ll be over. You will have given away your human foundation for an Art you know nothing about.”

“But I already have a foundation. I cultivated to the 4th tier of the Human realm on my own.” Allan said.

The red bird sighed and said: “You misunderstand. That is the demonic foundation. Half-demons like you can cultivate like demonic beasts by absorbing primordial energy into your demonic core. You have the ability to dual cultivate as a human or demon. All those cores you’ve been absorbing only fed your demonic core hence your current realm.”

“What is the demonic foundation?” Allan asked. He was never allowed to learn cultivation in Falcon village. Now that Arkul seemed to have some knowledge about cultivation, he wanted to learn more.

“The demonic foundation is the Human realm. For demonic beasts and half-demons, each of the nine tiers of the human realm brings you closer to a complete demonic core. A complete demonic core is acquired when you reach the Immortal Realm. Normally, all you have to do is absorb enough primordial energy to ascend to the immortal realm.” Arkul explained.

“How do humans start cultivating?” Allan asked.

“They absolutely need an Art. The magical art that they cultivate allows them to open an inner world inside their bodies. The inner world stores primordial energy and the more primordial energy that world can store, the stronger you are. In the Human realm, all the humans have to do is absorb primordial energy to strengthen and expand their inner world until there is no more space for it to expand. Once the world is saturated, it will explode and remould itself completely in a bigger unstable size. That’s when you reach the Immortal Realm. In the Immortal realm, you then stabilize your inner world.” Arkul said.

“Good. I will start with this one. If that old guy swindled me, I will just shatter my inner world and cultivate something else.” Allan smiled as he closed his eyes and touched the magical tome.

A bundle of information was then transferred to his head.

He sat cross-legged and started opening his inner world.

Arkul then thought: “Why am I so unlucky to be forced to protect someone who doesn’t value his own safety?...Sigh...”

Allan was in a wondrous state as he chanted the words contained in the /Light Emissary/ art.

It was like a world of made of light had been opened to him.

He understood that it was all inside his head but at the same time real.

As he felt that the blinding light was in the way, he was brought to a place filled with darkness.

It was his empty inner world.

He stayed there floating in the void.

He thought for a moment and said: “ The magical tome says that at this point I must let the light that flows through the world fill this void. The /Light Emissary/ grants me power over the light element. It also boosts my thinking and movements.... Let there be light.”

As he finished saying it, the empty void in his inner world was immediately filled with light. A white blinding light then shone in the incomplete inner world he had just created. He was the only shadow in his own world.

He bathed in the light for a moment. He felt even closer to it than before. He felt like a being made of light.

Something unprecedented was happening outside. Arkul who was monitoring Allan found that the surrounding primordial energy was being sucked away by Allan’s body.

“Impossible...What is this art that absorbs primordial energy on its own?” Arkul was shocked.

Normally, the cultivator was supposed to be the one to supply primordial energy to his inner world. A case in which the inner world itself absorbed energy on its own was unheard of.

After a few minutes, the light inside Allan’s inner world stopped accumulating energy.

In Allan’s inner world, Allan used his avatar to explore the world of light. He was drawn to a particular area. In the distance, he could see a yellow sun amidst the blinding white that made up his world.

“My inner world should have a diameter of a few hundred meters.”

As he arrived at the place that was calling for him, he found a palace. A scorching hot palace that looked like a golden sun.

He pushed open the giant door and found himself in a spacious hall.

In the middle of the hall was a white meter and half translucent sword.

Allan knew immediately the name of the sword as the scriptures of the magical tome were deeply ingrained in his mind.

It was the Light emissary’s God slaying sword.

A sword that grew in strength at the same time as its master.

He looked around and saw nine doors.

He knew that at the moment he could only open one door.

Before he went to the first door, he had a choice to make.

He had to choose what kind of God slaying sword he wanted.

“I know nothing about swords. I’d rather leave it like that rather than a ten kilometers long sword that I cannot move. The tome says that the bigger the sword, the more power it requires to move.”

He went to the first door and only needed to touch it for it to open.

Inside, there was a room the same size as the hall.

In the middle of the room was a pair of floating wings. White translucent wings that were the most beautiful thing he had ever seen. They looked exactly like the old God’s wings.

A smile then appeared on Allan’s face before disappointment hit him.

His human side had just opened an inner world. He was in the 1st tier of the Human realm. Very far from the 7th tier of the human realm that was required to be able to summon anything from his inner world.

He came back to the main hall and looked at the eight remaining doors.

He sighed and said: “I can only open a door per realm. nine doors, nine realms. It ‘s weird that the magical tome only mentions the first five realms.”

He then left the inner world.

Allan then opened his eyes.

He looked at the blue bird that still looked shocked and said: “What happened?”

“Nothing.” Arkul lied.

Allan asked: “Is there a limit to the space an inner world can take?”

Arkul then said: “There are none. As you grow in strength, it will naturally grow as well. Your ancestor for example. He created a mountain out of his inner world to build the current Falcon village. Everything from the defensive formations to the houses was made out of his inner world. Even if he’s missing, your clansmen know that he is still alive as Falcon mountain still stands. An inner world is like a pocket dimension that keeps growing as you grow. Demonic cores are the same as well.”

Allan was rendered speechless as he thought about how one needed to be a madman to create a mountain out of his inner world. He asked: “Then, it is entirely possible to create entire worlds.”

“Yes, if you reach the Ascendant God realm, you can even bring objects and living beings inside your inner world as well.” Arkul said.

“That’s way too far for me. I’ll try to break the seal on me for now. I also need cores to absorb more primordial energy. Doing it on my own is too slow. We have to go hunting.” Allan said.

“You mean you want to send me hunting again. Do you not understand how boring it is? Sigh...With your shallow cultivation, you can’t do much anyway... ” Arkul complained.

***

Alistair had been invited by Rudolph.

He was nervous.

He knew he had been invited to report everything he knew about Allan.

As a hunter working for Rudolph’s Underground house, he was obligated to obey the chain of command and do what he was told.

This time, he was conflicted.

He had worked for Allan for weeks and had started to like it. With the exaggerated pay, there was no room for complaints.

What he was afraid of was the God realm dragon that would probably kill him should he betray its master.

On the other hand, it’s not like he knew any of their secrets.

Mara then arrived and invited him in: “Rudolph is available now.” She said.

They both entered the room.

Rudolph said: “Alistair. How are you doing these days?”

Alistair inwardly rolled his eyes and said: “Very good, Sir. Thank you.”

“Anything worth mentioning about your new employer? I’m rather curious about how you hunt all those dangerous beasts. Does he have a master at the peak of the Immortal realm?” Rudolph asked. He was too impatient to discover Allan’s secrets.

Alistair was thinking about quitting Rudolph’s organization to avoid having to say anything. Just like the other nine hunters, he was too scared to say anything.

He inwardly sighed and said: “He has a God realm red dragon as his mount.”

That simple phrase was the only thing he managed to say. It was the only truth he knew and wanted to scare Rudolph from prying any further into things that had nothing to do with them both.

“That’s all. You’re excused.” Mara who was standing to the side said.

“Good day, sir and madam.”Like being delivered from a plague, Alistair left the room as fast as he could.

It was only when he left that the mysterious black mantle on Rudolph faded away to reveal a man shivering from head to toe.

“What were we thinking? We were this close to losing our lives.” Mara said. She was as shocked as Rudolph.

“If I didn’t stop you from trying to kill him, our organization would now be in the hands of someone else...I saved both our lives.” Rudolph said.

“Why would a God realm beast choose a pitiful human to be its master?” Mara asked.

“Not our problem. Understand? All those morons that have eyes on Allan’s wealth are in for it now. It’s a good thing we got this information.” Rudolph showed a smile amidst his still shocked face.

***

Several weeks later.

Allan, Arkul and the hunters had been hunting in the Thousand beasts mountains for weeks.

Allan kept all the cores for his cultivation.

The hunter’s usual role of transporting the slain beast’s corpses was done effortlessly with the protection of Arkul.

“I am finally at the 7th tier of the Human realm.” said Allan as he hoped on the summoned bright white sword and flew in the sky.

No one was shocked at how fast he was cultivating.

Allan’s consumption of primordial energy contained in demonic cores rivaled late stage Immortal realm cultivators as he had access to demonic cores of demonic beasts in the late Immortal Realm.

He was also an immortal half-demon whose body allowed for a cultivation faster than normal humans.

As Alistair looked at the dragon and youth in the sky, he thought: “Even I am jealous. It took me decades to reach the Immortal realm and I am still at the 1st tier.”

As Arkul flew closer to Allan he asked: “What are your plans now that you can finally summon your inner world?”

“I want to enter the Demonic sword sect but my store will have to close if you come with me. We need income and at the same time I need to keep cultivating with my own resources...”Allan said.

“I have a solution that can keep your store open.” Arkul said.

“What is it?” Allan asked.

“You let me turn Cain and his father into half-demons. The hunters will have to be turned as well. We will help them cultivate to the peak of the immortal realm with the cores that we have and they will keep hunting for you while cultivating as half-demons. In short, you will have a small army of half-demons working for you while you’re away.” Arkul said.

Allan expressed his doubts: “You can turn people into half demons?”

“I feel like I can. I am a legendary creature and should be able to turn humans, but I am not strong enough. The humans that I turn at my level will have a demonic core at the early Immortal realm.” Arkul said.

“Okay. I like your idea. But how do we stop them from leaking anything related to the existence of half-demons?”

“I will be considered their Sire. They will not betray me or you.” Arkul said.

“What will they become then? Half-dragons?” Allan asked.

“No. It’s impossible. Just like you, they will only have a demonic core to cultivate with. There is a possibility that some of them will inherit my shapeshifting ability but it will only be constrained to the ability to take any human form. Not animal. The only way they can reach the dragon phase is by ascending and becoming Ascendant gods. Without a Demonic art for half-demons of the dragon bloodline, it is impossible for them to turn into a dragon.” Arkul said.

“But my clan has many Demonic arts. Can’t they use them?” Allan asked.

“It must be of the same bloodline. Your ancestor was lucky and smart enough to come up with many demonic arts. I do not expect them to be able to do the same. To create a demonic art, you must be a half-demon and have a profound understanding of your demonic core and magical arts. Basically, a demonic art, if cultivated at the highest possible realm, should allow you to fuse your demonic core with your inner world.” Arkul said.

“What happens after the fusion?” Allan asked.

“You ascend and become an Ascendant God and you gain an inner core containing a world as big as a continent.” Arkul said.

“You mean...”

“Yes. All paths converge. At the Primordial God realm, humans acquire a core that can absorb primordial energy on its own. It’s also what the demonic beasts and half-demons acquire as well. Their demonic cores evolve to do the same thing. At that level, demonic beasts acquire a domain comparable to an inner world. For example, my domain is the domain of fire. I can melt everything under my level in a radius of a few hundred meters.”Arkul said.

“How do you know all of this?” Allan asked.

“No. Idea. I just remember some things that’s all.” Arkul said shaking his head.

“Let’s go ask them what they think about becoming half demons.” said Allan as he turned around and headed for the hunters waiting for them below.