It burns, it burns, it burns. Thought, Damon. The three drops of blood which dripped into his mouth lit a fire on Damon’s tongue, tore off the wall of his trachea, and cut open his stomach. His vision went black. In a desperate bid to regain one of his primary senses he started to furiously blink his eyes. However, once he opened them in earnest a few instants later did not see a dead forest, but an open scenery devoid of anything but rocky hills and sulfur rich air. When Damon took his first breath, a great wind rushed into his lungs and burned them. However, the pain didn’t last, and his lungs soon enjoyed the subtle corrosive property of sulfur. He closed his eyes and took in a large breath, when he opened his eyes once again, he saw Stolas. The burning sensation had disappeared, he felt stronger, and looser. But his sense of smell did disappear, he could now only smell sulfur. Damon opened his status,

Half Stolas-half-dark elf Cambion (Sin of Ambivalence): (Status modifications: add 25% to base mana value, remove 25% to base growth rate, remove 15% to base strength value, add 5% to base charisma value; night vision; curse resistance 75%; dark spirit magic; maximum lifespan: 400 years + (0.005*number of humanoid souls absorbed) years)

Damon ke Stolas LVL. 18 (1450/7720) --> (1450/8106)

Charisma

Intelligence

Perception

Agility

Endurance

Strength

Mana

21 --> 22 --> 26 (+5)

46 (+2)

38 (+2)

33 (+2)

21 (+2)

20-->21--> 23 (+3)

131 --> 139 --> 142 (+11)

All humanoid language acquisitions All demonic language acquisitions Arithmetic’s Lvl.6/7 Black magic Lvl.4/10 Body transformation (cerenoid) (+) Dark magic Lvl.4/10 Dark spirit communication Lvl.4/10 Demonic Magic Lvl.1/10 (+) Detect diseases and viruses through smell Lvl.3/5 Earth magic Lvl.4/5 Improved memory Lvl.3/5 Complete disease tolerance (+) Night vision 30/20 vision (+) Soul sight and touch (+) Star navigation (+) Telepathy Lvl.3/10

“How do you feel?” asked Stolas.

“I feel light.”

“Well, then, that’s good. You seem to have transformed properly.”

“That’s true,” Damon felt it, his body had changed. However, he couldn’t see it. “Do you have a mirror?” he asked. For the first time in three years, he had an urge to see his body.

“Follow me.”

Stolas flew into the tree and Damon ran after him. Each step he took made him want to launch in the air. But since his strength hadn’t increased by an absurd amount there must have been something else pushing him to fly.

Damon entered a room further inside the labyrinth, it had a mirror and a drawer filled with clothes.

When Damon stepped inside the mirror, he saw himself in full for the first time since coming here, so he wasn’t sure what had and hadn’t changed with his appearance. His eyes were a brownish yellow which popped out due to the contrast with his new skin colour. From the previous dark purple, his skin became a smooth, mate black, and his long hair shined in the dim light produced by the natural lighting of plants, mushrooms, and magic. On the crown of his thin face, he now sported two long horns about ten centimetres in length. He also felt another horn on the back of his head. He reached out his hand and stroked it, it was perhaps half the front one’s length.

Seeing this Stolas spoke, “The number of horns shows the number of magical skills possessed by a demon; its length shows that magic’s potential.”

Damon, still mesmerized by his own appearance continued looking over himself without speaking. His already thin and lanky build seemed to have been compressed, making him thinner but slightly taller, he now stood at about one hundred and ninety centimetres. Then he saw something peaking on the edges of his back. He turned around, there he saw two grey and black owl wings. When he spread them out and a great number of new sensations rushed through him as his brain connected itself to his new limbs. He stretched them out to their maximum reach. They had a wingspan of around four metres. He looked down and saw that his feet were now the talons of an owl. This is the only part he felt regret over for some odd reason. However, the fierce claws would make for a dangerous weapon.

“Chose new clothes, you are no longer a common elf. You are now a Cambion.” Stolas pointed to a vast array of clothes to the side of the mirror.

Damon agreed, he had become something more than a dark elf, or human. He was now a half demon, and he should act like it. Or at least something in the back of his mind told him that. He remembered that his thoughts, desires, and needs were not grafted from the soul, but the body.

“It’s fine I have my own clothes.” He removed his tunic and the next instant the set of clothes he got from God instantly appeared on his body. The earrings made from silver which went from the top of his long ears to his earlobes then dropped now contrasted even more against his black skin. His top melded with his skin and the beige pants contrasted with his top and skin, and his previous leather shoes had become beautiful shiny black adamantine claws.

“Now you truly are my black little prince.” Said Stolas. “Although I find this form much more elegant and worthy of a prince try to switch back to a cerenoid form.”

Damon thought of his old appearance and his body became that of a dark elf once again, except for the fact that his skin tone hadn’t changed. Other than that, his clothes had reverted to what worked for humans and elves. “I agree, this appearance is unrefined.” Damon used the ring of transformation to turn his skin dark purple once again. “Why did you not tell me I could become a demon earlier? Plus, now I can transform into a human. This way I can go into the other continent without a problem.”

Stolas shook his head, “You only had the potential. I still didn’t know if you were worth the price.”

Damon had many more questions but his astonishment at his own body overwhelmed his curiosity. He turned back into his true appearance. It felt much more comfortable. “Let’s go outside.”

There, Damon spread his wings and started to flap them. He got up one metre before gliding back down.

“You just got your wings; you must still learn to fly; plus, your strength is low, so your wings are weak as well.”

Damon stabbed the ground with his claws. “Well, I should be able to learn with time.”

Stolas nodded; he had a large mother like smile. “You are a magnificent demon, and with your clothes you could pass as nobility even in the elvish continent.”

“Thank you, I’ll make sure to repay you. For now, I need to go test my strength.”

“Oh wait, I forgot to tell you. Since you’re no longer a dark elf but half demon—half-dark elf you need to eat both your old food and souls. However, half of the souls you harvest will come back to me since you’re technically my subordinate.”

Damon nodded, perhaps this urge to fight came from his cravings. As such, he started to run away and instinctively used his wings to push him forwards a bit faster. He no longer wanted to wear anything else other than his godly clothes. Since he could unsummon them instantly to clean or repair them, he saw no need to wear anything else. Anyhow, other clothes weren’t fit for someone such as himself.

When he reached the beginning of the southern swamp, he used his wings to propel him of the ground to reach a tree branch. His new claws let him get a good grip on the trees and as he overlooked the beasts with his sword in hand.

A hundred metres away he saw the signs of a hidden giant snake. With short bursts wing flaps, he hopped from tree to tree until he got to a branch ten metres away from the snake. Gliding down from above the snake, he used his claws to cut through the snake’s spine. When he landed, he saw a soul, however, as he was about to reach out to it, it flew towards the tree. He guessed that the first one went to Stolas. He found another snake and did the same to it. This time the soul stayed in the air, but before it could fade away Damon took it in his hands. Although it looked like a floating light, it had weight. This one was light, almost empty. He didn’t feel like he was supposed to eat it but, a few instants latter an urge to eat the soul appeared. When the urge to consume it grew too great it started to be absorbed by the hand which held it and the light and weight disappeared. A warm sensation enveloped his entire body.

There were a lot of things he had yet to learn about his new body. He also realized that his hands didn’t end in nails but three centimetres long, curved, and black claws. He went up to a tree and dragged down his hand. The claws easily ripped through the bark of the tree.

Now this is what he’d expected to get when he first descended into this world. Now that he’d tested his new physical abilities, he went to test his magic. He found another goblin nest further away from the one near the tree and entered it without hesitation. When the first trio of goblins appeared, he used three earth spikes one after the other to skewer the lot. All he had to do is turn his head and he could decide the spikes lane of deployment. This was no different from before.

Next a group of six goblins who’d heard their compatriots’ screams came running towards him. He used an earth spear to blast a hole through their bodies and then his hand to cut them to pieces. When the Goblin shaman arrived, Damon used a quarter earth sphere to block its projectiles. Since he felt the temperature rise, he knew it used fire magic. Still hidden behind the sphere he used shadow bind, collapsed the earth and rock shield, and ran to cut the goblin’s head off with his sword. A soul rose from the shaman, he grabbed it and ate it. It tasted the same as the snake. It wasn’t bad but he felt that there should be more variations in taste. Perhaps it was classified by power. Damon looked at the other souls. He wanted to know what happened to the souls he didn’t touch. Half of the souls immediately flew towards the tree as expected, however, after a minute the rest disappeared. It probably left to be reincarnated, or a storage chamber waiting to see if Damon would fulfill his mission. If he did the souls would most likely return to him or Stolas.

Damon didn’t bother continue into the nest and went back to Stolas.

When he did, Damon asked, “There is one last thing right.”

“That memory skill ain’t too bad. Yes, you can now have a new demonic item.” Stolas took another linen cloth from the tree. “Since with your new transformation you now have a form for every cerenoid creature, and you cursed demonic ring of transformation lets you modify your appearance as you wish within that race you shouldn’t have any problem in the camouflage aspect of your life. As such I decided to get you this.”

Stolas handed Damon the cloth. He didn’t waste a moment to unwrap it. This time it wasn’t a ring but a bangle bracelet. When looked down at it looked like four rings, the base material was gold, and on the first level little sapphires were encrusted, the second level had rubies, the third amethysts, and the fourth had diamonds. A black snake slithered out of one end and bit into Damon’s forearm. This time the pleasant sensation came on twice as strong and lasted twice as long. Damon understood its power, “This dark spirit let’s me charm those who fall in love with me.”

“I thought it might be a good parting gift from your old name. With this cursed demonic bracelet, once you get a hold of someone’s heart you never have to worry about losing it. Well, charm magic wares off if you stop interacting with them for a long time so be aware of that. It depends on your own charisma so you’re going to have to play with that. Oh, and it only works on one person at a time.”

Damon nodded, “Am I leaving now?”

Stolas shook his head, “You can’t escape practising black magic, plus don’t you want to learn how to fly?” Stolas flapped his wings and perched himself not the tree, “The arrangements with the duke are already set up and he isn’t expecting you for another eight months. As such, you have plenty of time to get used to your new magic and body. Although we won’t have time for demonic magic.”

“How long does it take to get there,”

“Two months by carriage. Since you are going there as the tutor to a duke’s son, there’s no way you’re walking.”

Damon nodded and went back to his room to continue his pursuit of black magic.