18 Initial Demon

Vincent stood from the bed with a relief sigh.

He quickly checked the change in his body. His skin became smoother and fairer. His body also felt stronger and lighter than before. His nails and fangs became sharper. He also could control their length. With just a thought his nails suddenly became shorter on its own surprising him. Unfortunately he couldn't do anything about his tail. It was wild as always.

He also noticed the sparks of red color in his eyes became more visible. The most amazing thing was he could see the fire element in the aether!!

At first he didn't notice any different. But he suddenly felt his body seemed a bit more sensitive than usual. He could felt a faint energy from the aether surrounding him. He thought it was just temporary side effect from his improvement so he could felt the aether energy. But after he checked them with his eyes clearly, he suddenly noticed something different with the aether.

There was a faint red color in some aether surrounding him. It also felt warm. It was similar with warm energy that was absorbed by his body. So he realized that they maybe were fire element aether. It seemed because his magic core had an affinity with fire, he became more sensitive with fire element.

Vincent closed his eyes for a moment to see the condition of his mana core.

His magic core was brighter and more violent than before. But the core bead looked really solid and smooth. It was transparent with bright red fire with a bit darkness was seen inside it. It was really different with his old magic core which looked like an ugly imitation of sun. It was like the ugly stone just being polished to become a high quality bead. The flame was blazing violently as always like they were protecting the core.

Below the core was his mana pool. It was huge and deeper than his space before. He didn't know why it was called a mana pool when the pool was this huge. The mana liquids, of course, were exhausted for his improvement just now. There was only a little bit left filling the bottom of the pool. But it was normal as his advancement indeed needed a lot of mana.

He now could be called as an Initial Demon, a demon whom his cultivating level was already on the initial stage.

There were two levels in the Initial Stage that he needed to pass before advancing to second awakening, Elemental Stage. First level was called an Initial Demon, while the second level was a High Initial Demon. Each level also consisted of four ranks inside them.

To increase his rank, he needed to increase the capacity of his mana pool.

Another thing that was changed but expected was his refining speed.

It became two times faster than before!!

It also felt lighter than before as he refined his mana in fast speed. There was no tired feeling in his mind at all!

He was sure he could increase his refining speed again!

He suddenly became spirited to immediately start training again. But he had to pause it as he suddenly felt a strong dark energy in front of him.

"So you finally awaken the first stage."

A melodious's voice was heard in front of him in curious tone.

Goddess!!

Vincent immediately opened his eyes brightly.

So the strong dark energy that he felt was his goddess. It was the first time he noticed it.

It was very dark and thick. It felt so intoxicating, pulling him to breath, touch or whatever it was so the feeling was getting closer to him.

Vincent held his breath, suddenly feeling couldn't control himself.

He suddenly remembered this feeling when he met the darkness for the first time. This intoxicating feeling was similar. The goddess did say the darkness was his, did he?

Noctis looked at him from his head to toe and nodded approvingly. "Good job." He praised rarely.

The warm feeling immediately filled his heart. Vincent grinned brightly.

He did his best, Goddess!! ヾ(≧∇≦)ゞ

"What don't you try use your mana now?" Noctis titled his head in curiosity.

Vincent nodded excitedly.

He immediately concentrated to gather his mana on his right palm like before. This time it felt smoother and lighter than before. Mana quickly gathered on his palm. He felt the familiar burning hot. He concentrated further and imagined to create a fire from the mana.

Wossh!

Small red flame immediately appeared on his palm. It was enveloping his palm wildly.

He grinned with pleased expression as he finally could use magic. Noctis nodded lightly, but his gaze was thoughtful.

"Try your left hand." Noctis ordered suddenly.

Vincent raised his eyebrows in puzzlement. But he obediently opened his left palm. He then concentrated again to create a fire on his left palm. Confusion quickly filled his mind as the flow of energy was slower than his right hand. He concentrated further to create the fire. The familiar burning hot felt on his palm, but the fire hadn't come out. He narrowed his eyes further before finally a flame appeared. But it was a lot smaller than the right ones!

"As expected…" Noctis muttered in upset. "It was your worthless human blood after all!!" he exclaimed in upset.

Cough! Goddess! Why did you call him worthless again?! (ToT)

Vincent wanted to complain but his goddess ignored him coldly.

Noctis walked toward him in upset. A dark mana then appeared on his right hand. He grabbed Vincent's left hand and touched the hand with his right palm.

Vincent shuddered a bit as the dark energy touched his skin. But he didn't move.

Noctis rubbed his left hand a few times on certain places. There was a slight pain as his goddess's finger touched those places. His goddess then placed his right palm on certain areas on his shoulder, neck, and his heart before finally let go of him.

"Try again with use your left hand." Noctis demanded.

Vincent kept his confusion in his mind and then immediately tried again. Strangely, this time the energy flow was a lot smoother and faster than before. A small flame then appeared on his palm. Not as big as the right ones, but a lot bigger than before.

"Huh, I see…" Noctis nodded thoughtfully. A small book then out of nowhere appeared in the middle air beside him and the darkness already was writing swiftly on the journal. "That's right… it is so troublesome…" Noctis murmured to the darkness.

"What is it, Master?" Vincent finally couldn't hold back his curiosity.

"It is all your faults!" Noctis immediately glared at him as if he was just being offended, making Vincent black lined.

Noctis huffed in upset as he explained, "It is because your body is so troublesome! My blood should be enough to help your human body to receive mana! But it turned out only half of your mana path that is opened! It is so worthless!" he complained in pout. How could his blood not resolve the problem perfectly?! It was so unacceptable!

Mana path? So because half of his mana path was closed, his mana couldn't flow in his body perfectly?

"It seemed we have to fasten the plan to get rid of your human blood. But no matter, I will make plans to help you open the mana paths." Noctis huffed in upset.

Ah, so it wasn't only because the grudge for his human blood that his goddess wanted to change his body so hard.

"Is that why you made me drank your blood, Master?" Vincent asked curiously. He was always wondering why his goddess made him drink his blood. Should giving him the magic core was enough?

"Of course! Your old body didn't have a mana path at all!! Your body would just explode if you just receive my magic core. My blood should have been enough to correct the problem!" Noctis frowned in upset. Even so the darkness beside him didn't slow down in its writing at all. Vincent didn't know what it was writing about.

"I see. Then what should I do now?" Vincent asked. He couldn't help but disappointed. It was his body after all. He had it since born. How can he know it would incompatible with magic? He guessed it was normal since his world didn't have any magic after all.

Noctis huffed as he crossed his arms. "No worry, I will make a training plan for you to help you to open all your mana paths."

"Can you just open them like you did with my left hand?" Vincent asked in puzzlement. It was working just now after all.

"Of course not, it is just a temporary! I cannot help all of them." refuted Noctis. The darkness then stopped its writing and brought the book in front of him.

Noctis murmured something to darkness lowly, and then nodded a few times. "You think so?" asked him in brightened voice. He then stared at Vincent from the head to the toe and nodded thoughtfully. Vincent tensed as those eyes kept looking at him strangely.

"Right, it will works."Noctis exclaimed in an excited voice.

"W-what's will works?!" Vincent asked nervously.

"The plan to open your mana paths, of course!!" Noctis exclaimed happily. He then walked to circle him to stare over at his body while muttering something.

"No, dark, we cannot use that. But maybe if I add some potions then…" Noctis stopped in front of him and murmured again. "No, no, maybe if I use that ritual for the body…" he whispered lowly as he stared at him intently.

Vincent couldn't help but shuddered as those eyes stared at him like they wanted to dissect him on the spot.

Why did he felt like his goddess just see him as a rare experiment?! ━Σ(ﾟДﾟ|||)━

Vincent did not know whether to laugh or cry as his goddess checked over his body here and there without leaving even an inch detailed forgotten.

..

..

Even though half of his mana paths were closed, it actually didn't really as bad as it sounded.

He still could use magic like normal, just that it would be a bit difficult, like his left hand did. Some part of his body would receive a mana a lot slower and harder than the opened path ones.

Beside as Initial Demon who specialist in magic, he didn't really need many mana paths in his body for now. He also remembered in his goddess's knowledge that was sent to his mind, at higher level he could use magic without using mana paths at all. Like his goddess who only needed to control the darkness around him.

After he checked his body thoroughly, half of his body indeed was having difficulty to receive mana. The mana path was placed on the body meridians. There was about three hundred sixty plus mana point that was on the body meridians. Almost half of them weren't opened fully in his body.

But, since his goddess said he would take care of them. Vincent decided to not really bother them.

His goddess was a genius after all. He must already thought of a solution for him.

That's why Vincent continued his day with a light heart.

He made cakes for his goddess as usual, read his goddess's journal, before at night he began to refine mana again. He needed to stabilize his magic core and his mana pool. After filling his mana pool full at the base, then would he started to increase his rank.

Therefore when the next morning after breakfast came, he couldn't help but surprised as he saw a paper that was suddenly handed over at him by his goddess.

"This is…?" He asked in puzzlement.

Noctis grinned excitedly and said, "This is your training plan to open your mana paths from today!!"

Vincent blinked in surprise. Already done? His goddess really was a genius. He then curiously looked down at the paper. But as soon as his eyes read what was written in there, his body was immediately frozen in stun.

T-this…

What the hell was this?! (⊙_⊙)