6 A Demonic Appetite

Time passed by quickly.

Deon spent most of his time secluded within the inn, only leaving to buy food and other necessities. He holed himself up in his room and studied diligently, committed to increasing his understanding of the kingdom's written language to an acceptable level.

Of course, he also made sure to devote a portion of his time to refining the atmospheric spiritual energy into origin energy in his soul space. The gaseous grey origin energy became increasingly thick as the months passed by, until eventually, three months later…

Crack!

The origin energy in his soul space was filled with a shattering sound, causing Deon to show a satisfied smile. The grey mist rapidly transformed into an even brighter, more glimmering colour.

"Mid stage 1-Star." Deon smiled happily.

His speed of improvement could be considered monstrous. It was true that he spent more time to improve from the early stage to mid stage than he had needed to ascend from the initial stage to early stage, but this was only normal. Not only was he spending a large portion of his time studying the local language, but the conditions here were also far inferior compared to that of the inheritance palace.

The concentration of spiritual energy in the inheritance palace was many times thicker, so his speed of improvement was correspondingly faster in that place.

Honestly, spending only three months to ascend from the early stage to the mid stage was already enough to surpass almost all geniuses!

For the remainder of the month, Deon polished up on his learning of the written language. By the time that the day of the entrance to the military academy came around, he felt satisfied with his progress. Whilst he couldn't be considered a scholar with just his meagre understanding of the local written words, he could at least read and write well enough.

Even so, all of this secluded studying made Deon feel that his life was a bit lacking.

"Hah…suddenly going from a life of battle to this, is really a bit…" Deon sighed deeply.

When he was first sentenced to hell, he could never have imagined that one day, he would actually miss that place!

Well, to speak more accurately, he did not miss the atrocious realm of hell itself, but Deon had to admit that he had developed something of an appetite for battle, or perhaps for living an exciting lifestyle in general.

Eventually, he shook his head and stood up to leave.

"No matter, I'm going to enter the military now, this should be somewhat interesting."

With that, he set off. His destination was the district 5 military outpost. This was where, on the same day of each year, civilians could sign up to join the kingdom's military!

As Deon walked through the now familiar streets of the Kingdom of Restari's district 5, he stopped for a moment. His abrupt stopping within the middle of the bustling flea market drew some glances, but nobody here was truly paying attention. After taking a brief, uninterested look, the crowd soon walked past him and went about their mundane lives.

"Really…" Deon muttered as a faint smile crept onto his face. "I made such an active effort to avoid doing anything extreme, yet now, right as l'm about to enter the military, it seems that I can't hold back any longer."

As he spoke, he calmly walked away from the street market and into a secluded alleyway. He made sure to choose an alleyway that was overshadowed by buildings on either side, such that it had limited visibility and was difficult to peer into from the outside street.

As soon as Deon entered this dark alley, he immediately took a few steps back, then suddenly turned around to face his pursuers.

"B-boss, he noticed us!" A hunch backed man stopped in his tracks, staring back at Deon like a deer caught in headlights.

"So what? I told you all before, a newly ascended shaman is nothing! We've made more than enough preparations for this kid, stop being so cowardly!" A man with a larger stature snorted. This person's body was covered by a black cloak, making him look quite suspicious.

Deon stared forwards, assessing this ragtag looking bunch who had clearly targeted him deliberately. After close examination, he let out a sigh.

"Hah...I remember now. You all tried to kidnap me some time ago, right? Didn't you all flee in fear the last time we met?"

As Deon spoke, three of the six men facing him tensed up. Another two also glanced towards their leader uncertainly, but the leader snorted coldly and stared at Deon without fear.

Indeed, these were the very same individuals who attempted to kidnap Deon a few months earlier, but fled after realising that he was a shaman. Now, they had returned, clearly targeting him specifically because he was a shaman.

Only this time, their numbers had doubled, whilst the larger man standing at the forefront of the group was clearly their leader, and definitely the one responsible for this predetermined attack.

"Kid, you don't intimidate me." The leader laughed coldly, actually taking a step towards Deon as he retrieved a machete from inside of his cloak. After grasping the giant blade, he dropped the cloak and stared at Deon menacingly.

"Give up everything on you, including your bound spirits! Be obedient and I'll let you leave with your life intact, hahaha!"

The thug leader put emphasis on the words 'bound spirits'. Deon narrowed his eyes, this person clearly understood shamans, this was uncommon for ordinary people…not only that, but his words served to reinforce his mens' morale by reminding them of the rewards they would reap from this job.

However, Deon wouldn't allow them to get swept away in their own pace. With a mocking smile, he asked:

"And why do you seem to think that I have any bound spirits? The reason you targeted me is because you think I'm a weak, newly ascended shaman, so why would I possess any bound spirits?"

"True." The thug leader nodded, laughing and not caring at all. He continued to move forwards slowly, keeping his eyes trained on Deon as he spoke. "Regardless, I already know that you're a rich little kid. Not only that, but killing a shaman will boost my reputation by so much that I can't let go of this chance!"

With that, he no longer wasted any further words. With a courageous war-cry, the towering man leapt forwards and roared out loud as he lifted the machete up and swung down towards Deon with his full strength!

In the end, he only brought his men along in order to intimidate Deon, but more importantly, he needed some witnesses for his epic feat of battle!

But the expected outcome did not occur.

"Perhaps if I really was an ordinary child and shaman, you might be able to win…" Deon spoke whilst withdrawing the ancient demon spirit from his soul space. Instantly, a fear-inducing black aura enveloped the area, causing the thug leader to stumble and his subordinates to shrink back in horror.

CHING!

Deon swung his sword sharply and swiftly, cutting through the machete like a knife through butter, before following through and decapitating the leader by liberating his head from his body. A spray of red shot out across the alleyway walls, whilst also splashing onto the faces of those remaining thugs, who were now all frozen in terror.

They wanted to run, but their legs would not move. They wanted to cry out, but they could not find their voices!

"Unfortunately for you all, I am no ordinary child and shaman."

A demonic grin slowly crept onto Deon's face. As he calmly stepped over the leader's dismembered corpse, towards the now shivering thugs, he let out a wronged sigh that did not at all match his smile.

"So much for staying low-key and avoiding trouble, I should have just killed you all to begin with." Deon sighed, but then laughed and shrugged his shoulders.

"I tried, Blood God, really. However, it's quite clear to me now..."

As Deon lifted up his demonic blade once again, he displayed a satisfied grin. Satisfaction at finally being able to battle and kill once again!

In the end, Deon was Blood God's successor for a reason.

"A quiet, low-key, moderate life, really isn't my style."

Chi Chi Chi Chi Chi!

With five strikes, five bodies dropped lifelessly to the ground.

Deon stared down at the motionless bodies as slowly, the crazed grin faded from his face. His eyes quickly darted about, and after confirming that nobody had seen him or the thugs, nor could anyone see into the alley at this instant, he quickly picked up the thug leader's cloak from the ground, wrapped it around his body and face, then left.

After taking a few turns through the streets, Deon casually discarded the cloak into a bin in a place out of sight, then continued on with his walk towards the military academy.

He still planned to enter the military. Joining the military would facilitate Deon's growth as a shaman, whilst also providing a suitable environment for someone with his…appetite.

He was not worried about the murders being traced back to him, investigations in this kingdom were severely lacking, especially in an impoverished place like district 5. Given that he would already be in the military by the time this matter was brought to anyone's attention, there was no chance that he would be considered a suspect.

To be honest, nobody would care enough to bother investigating the killings of some criminals in the first place.

As he realised that he had just gotten away with six counts of murder, Deon couldn't help but smile.