Chapter 45
Jake and Perry reached the 18th floor. They examined the dungeon core which was thrice as large as before. It had a much denser mana for which any monster here would fight to death.
Jake had bought a new skill called [Dark Vision] after reaching here as it was really dark. However, Perry didn’t have such an ability, so he had to light a torch.
As the flame roared to life, consuming the mana of the dungeon, Jake put the torch nearby and turned to Perry.
Suddenly, three high-grade mana crystals appeared in his hands.
“Take these and put them around the dungeon core,” Jake ordered.
After Perry did as he said, Jake bit his finger and started walking around. He made a circle of blood through those mana stones.
Moving his finger vertically, Jake made various geometrical shapes and another circle. This one was smaller. He did this until five distinct, bloody lines converged towards the dungeon core.
Jake then became fully naked and stood before the dark red core. A large magic circle was on the floor, created with his demonic blood.
“Master, are you…” Perry guessed what he was going to do.
“This place is perfect for my advancement,” Jake said and pulled up his status panel.
Currently, his only one attribute has reached the 300 mark. It’s mana. Jake planned to spend a lot of points to increase two of his attributes to meet the criteria.
As long as three attributes were 300 or over, he could advance to the 3rd Circle. And those three were going to be strength, mana, and intelligence.
Jake spent 15,500 points to increase his strength and intelligence.
Three system notifications immediately rang in his head.
[Ding! Your strength has increased! 215→300]
[Ding! Your intelligence has increased! 230→300]
[Congratulations! Three of your attributes have reached 300. To advance, please prepare a demonic advancement magic circle. Ritual specifics…]
As Jake had already made a magic circle for himself. He could directly proceed with the ritual chant which was written in the system. It was written exactly as what he knew from his memories.
”Horca Fren La…” Jake nearly stuttered while chanting.
That word or whatever was too difficult to recite. No wonder it was demon tongue. As Jake chanted more, Perry covered her ears as she started feeling dizzy. Despite being corrupted, she felt uneasy hearing those words. If it was a normal human, they would have already fainted.
When Jake chanted one specific word, the dungeon core suddenly pulsated. The bloody magic circle glowed red and the surrounding evil mana stirred. Perry, who was outside of the magic circle, went further backward to not interrupt her master.
Jake started feeling his mana core sucking the evil mana which the dungeon core provided. It was the medium to provide evil mana in this world. If he advanced in Hell, he wouldn’t have to make an anchor out of a dungeon core.
”Lee Nix Credanta… Saah…” His voice turned louder and louder. Jake’s horns suddenly glowed and black demonic marks appeared on his back.
An evil voice burst out in the air. It sometimes sounded like laughing, sometimes depressed and crying. A malefic air flowed inside the core chamber. Jake’s eyes glowed red at this moment as a terrifying evil presence burst out of him.
His blood and flesh restructured, his muscles became more compact and less bulky. Perry watched as her huge master transformed into being lean. His every muscle now seemed to have an aesthetic charm. Even his face had changed. Previously, he looked scary, but now he was rather handsome.
Jake’s entire body gained demonic marks, and they had an evil red glow about them. Slowly, the marks converged towards his forehead and disappeared. Jake finished chanting and heard a system notification.
[Ding! Congratulations on advancing to the 3rd Circle. Do you want to view the status panel?]
”Yes,” Jake said.
As he saw his title, he found out that he was a Demon Viscount now. Probably the weakest viscount… but still one. His attributes were the same as before, but he seemed to have gained two new skills. Jake clicked them and was surprised.
[Skill: Craving Touch (Sin-Specific – Lust)]
[Grade: Unique (High)]
[Level: 1]
[Usage Cost: 50 mana/use]
[Requirements: INT 200+, CHA 300+]
[Description: By touching a person whose Intelligence is lower than 200 and whose Will is lower than 275, you can suggest one lustful desire to invade their mind. Whatever it may be, either lust for power, lust for revenge, lust for money, or lust for body… The person will crave it.]
[Skill: Skill Steal (Sin-Specific – Greed)]
[Grade: Unique (High)]
[Level: 1]
[Usage Cost: 75 mana /use]
[Requirements: INT 250+, Will 250+]
[Description: Steal any skill of someone one rank lower than you.]
These were powerful skills but the usage cost made him pause. He couldn’t use these skills over 4-5 times at once. They instantly became his trump cards. However, checking his attributes again, Jake realized he couldn’t use [Craving Touch] for the time being.
His charisma was lacking. Jake didn’t use his points to increase it though. He had urgent uses for the remaining 13,620 Evil Points.
Jake took out his clothes from the inventory and let Perry dress him. He quickly opened the shop panel and started scrolling from the [Items] section.
Various monsters were priced at the cost of thousands of Evil Points. Jake’s choice was something else, however.
[Item: Demon Summoning Scroll]
[Grade: Rare (High)]
[Type: Usable]
[Description: Summons a loyal legion of flying 1st Circle Hell Demons, also known as Imps.]
[Cost: 5,000 Evil Points]
A bronze-red scroll appeared in Jake’s hand. Dismissing the system panel, he buttoned his shirt where Perry couldn’t reach because of her height.
”Now watch,” he said as he donned his large black robe. Perry nodded and stood beside her master while holding her staff.
After he finished dressing up, Jake opened the scroll and imbued his mana into it. Immediately, the characters written in it started glowing, and a red magic circle appeared on the ground before Jake and Perry.