Library was silent for a long time.

Grand elder dismissed the elder council with words, “We all have a lot to do and a lot to think about. We will proceed according to the previous plan and meet here for the council meeting in twenty days. After that I will have my quarterly replenish. Also, in one moth we will start the next step to increase his cold resistance. Elder Jan, please prepare everything accordingly. Everyone, during this time restrain yourselves from any rash actions or thoughts. I want us all to calm down and analyze what has transpired within last two years, even before elder Sonor brought the barbarian princess here. Work hard and a lot, but don’t forget to rest as well. Dismissed!”

One could see that grand elder was really a good leader. After all he was 283 years old this year …

But Nick, while pretending to be asleep was stressed out so much he could hardly breath. He felt like he just jumped into a nest of vipers and kicked around randomly while cursing them.

‘Damn! It seemed so different while I planned in my head! Those freaks will definitely kill me for this! No way they can swallow such insults. Why did I do that? Oh well ... they were planning to kill me anyway and this was ‘all or nothing’ play. As long as I can postpone the execution, it was all right.’

To calm down he tried to perform the first Qi technique, then concentrated on recollecting all the other techniques he learned.

‘And I used up all those fake stories in the end! The war and the river story ... I even told about the old power system. Well, on the other hand there could be many followup questions, so may be it was not all bad.’

It took Nick a long time to fall asleep.

The big surprise came next morning.

“Do you need my help, Lord Baal?” Elder Agnes was cruelly smiling at him wile looking at his bulging eyes and twisted face.

‘Why the hell did I do that? Such a mistake!’ He would have loved to cry, but it was just too painful. He felt like he was back in the inquisition he felt when his soul first arrived here.

Elder Agnes saw Nick shaking his head and continued to enjoy his changing expressions.

Yesterday he requested for all of them to stop infusing Qi in his body without his permission. He knew they were strengthening him with the steroids they put in this mixture that was his food. What he didn’t realize, was that the Qi protection elders and apprentices provided prevented him from feeling the pain as well as helped to process the meal. When he ate before, he just felt a light burning sensation and didn’t really pay any closer attention. But now – he felt like he was on fire – it probably was better just to die. Already after the first gulp the pain was unbearable.

‘This is horrible! What have I done?! I can’t ask for any help after yesterday!’ Nick started to ponder while somehow dealing with the excruciating pain after the first gulp. ‘I have to try and drink with very small gulps and protect myself with the new Qi technique, while trying to not go insane or die from pain.’

Breakfast took took ten times longer than usual. The amount of Qi he was able to gather was laughable and the protection it provided was basically nonexistent. Mostly he just went through the motions without any ways to lessen the pain. It was so bad that the last half of the bottle he gulped down in one go – it was better just to try and force through it, if he couldn’t, so be it. And he almost didn’t.

The one thing that comforted him was that the old freaks definitely would not give anything that would kill him directly or leave permanent damage. They liked to risk in their experiments, but it would be more or less safe in the end. He was expensive research object and they invested a lot, thus most likely he won’t be thrown out just like that.

Afterwards Nick took a bath. He was longing for the refreshing feeling of a nice smelling apprentice bathing him after the inquisition that was his breakfast. Nick still could not think straight after all the pain he just experienced. And it did not change now. Without the Qi protection that he usually had, bath was even worse than the meal. As soon as apprentice put him in the water, he simply passed out. His face was nice and peaceful, looked like he was almost smiling. Probably he had some pleasant hallucinations.

Obviously elder Agnes, who was supervising the process, noted it down, but for some reason she added her opinion, ‘The demon seems to enjoy the bath in the essence of fire lizard’s blood – it is possible that in some way it resembles the environment in Hell’.

If Nick knew what she thought, he would have just kicked her in the face. That old stupid hag! Of course, it was the Hell environment, why else would he pass out? What was all the ‘enjoy’ part about?

For a while Nick floated in the bathtub like a red dumpling and only after some time apprentice took him out, dried up and put the ‘soundly sleeping’ demon lord into bed.

Things continued this way for around ten days. Elders concluded that Belial was upset with them and was playing around by testing limits of his human body. On the other hand, the great ‘tester’ was on the edge of loosing sanity. Interestingly enough it was the instinctive practice of the first Qi technique that helped him to live though it as well as the repetition of other techniques in his mind over and over again. The practice and the repeated memorizing did not alleviate the pain, but it diverted his attention at least a bit. Even while being semi unconscious he felt it was important to drill these techniques in his memory, probably because he paid for them in a risky way.

Nick’s perseverance of an athlete did shine the brightest or may be it was the fear of lethal consequences that may follow if he asked for help. Be as it may, his daily routine looked like this: he chugged down the bottle of his ‘meal’, then lie in the cramps murmuring the principles of guiding Qi through his body. Then, after the pain was alleviated, he was brought to bath to finally ‘relax’, quickly falling into unconsciousness.

With days going by, he noticed how numbness slowly replaced the pain, just like it was during the ‘introductory course of inquisition’ he experienced while floating in the womb. It probably showed how his body’s resistance to the fire or pain was increasing. The downside was that he did not pass out during baths anymore and had to fully ‘enjoy’ them.

There was a factor that kept Nick’s hopes up. He remembered that the ‘fire treatment’ should soon be over and then his body would be trained in cold resistance. He was looking forward to the change and was longing for a nice cool bath instead of this boiling pot of oil.

Soon he started to visit balcony again to do his exercises. Nick had taken his first steps earlier and now he just had to continue practicing. Using methodical approach he soon managed to cover half of the balcony on wobbling legs. While doing so he used the second Qi technique and was surprised to notice how it improved his stability.

‘Soon I will be running all over this place!’ Nick thought with shiny eyes, but then he remembered the inquisition part of his daily routine and the eyes dimmed down immediately.

On rainy days Nick continued to read books. Although he had few ‘book questions’ answered in advance, elder Agnes managed to increase their credit.

While reading in the library, Nick sometimes silently observed the grand elder at his workstation. The old freak seemed to be ‘cooking’ some weird mixtures, dissecting small and what looked poisonous insects. What confused Nick was that there were objects appearing and disappearing on the workshop table, but the grand elder was not wearing any jewelry. Nick was trying to figure out if the table had the spacial properties or grand elder had a special item hidden somewhere.

Elder Agnes noticed his gaze, “Lord Baal, are you interested in alchemy? I could ask the grand elder tell you about it.”

“Usually female succubi cook for me.” Nick disdainfully looked at her surprised expression, “A man should not work in the kitchen!”

Then, after a while, he added, “But obviously it does not hurt to know recipes and the process itself. Although I might be a little interested in the alchemy science you humans research, I will be busy during the upcoming days. It is not convenient to learn it.”

Nick continued to observe the grand elder and after a while curiosity finally won, “What I don’t understand is where grand elder has the item storage. He doesn’t have any rings, but table can’t be a spacial storage place because it would be just a waste of materials.”

“You are correct, but it is a secret only us, elders, know. The grand elder would probably let me tell you, but it is not free.” Elder Agnes smiled back.

‘A trap!’ Nick was sure of it.

He stared at her for ten full minutes until elder Agnes gave up and pouted, “You only want to have fun on your own terms. Let me play once in a while!”

“From what I know, those who play with you end up in the specimen jars in your laboratory.” Nick snorted.

“Hahaha, I like the way you put it.” She laughed and tears fell down her wrinkled cheeks. After a moment she calmed down, “It won’t be that hard, just tell one simple answer.”

“My answers are not that cheep. You probably have already learned from your mistakes and will finally ask something reasonable. I don’t like to lose out.”

“I’ll let you decide, Lord Baal. I will tell you how and where grand elder stores items if you tell me how can I recognize demon who has taken over human body. What do you think?”

The gears inside Nick’s brain started to turn at increasing speed. After few minutes he said, “You are right, it is not that hard to explain, but the value you offer is too low. Add me a glass of milk every day for the next twenty days and I’ll tell you.”

Elder Agnes was elated, “Deal, should we perform the handshake ritual?”

Nick continued to look seriously at her until she got nervous. It was a bit amusing, “You are a stupid little girl after all. Although the question you asked is not bad, your thought process is astonishingly primitive.”

Elder Agnes got more and more nervous as Nick continued to look at her while wrecking his brains on how to proceed. To the big relief of the elder, Nick finally said, “Ok. I like you a bit. Let me teach you.”

He pointed at her and continued, “What do you think will happen if you won’t be able to bring me milk? What if someone who hates you, replaces milk with another liquid of similar color and you’ll bring me something else? What if in the span of twenty days there are several days in a row with thunderstorms and all the milk gets bad just before you bring it to me? It would be completely different product in such case. There are multiple possibilities like that. Will you be able to bear the consequences of breaking ‘the handshake ritual’? It’s not a child’s play, you know!”

Elder Agnes was sweating cold sweat. This was too close! She has been playing with fire way too much! Grand elder at the workshop table also was frozen, apparently it was shocking revelation to him as well.

“As I said, I am not a bully.” Nick ‘gently’ looked at elder Agnes, “Just bring me some milk, stupid girl.”