Chapter 34

Davida was in deep meditation, so deep, in fact, she managed to float while meditating. The cause of that is because the highly concentrated mana in the room, dancing around Davida, lifting her up from the ground. If people outside could see this, they would be shocked. After a short while meditating in this place, her power rose a notch. One has to know, climbing ranks from the 5th Circle to the 6th Circle was really hard. There are a few conditions one has to meet before they can raise their circle rank.

One of the conditions was mana. A mage needed to have enough mana in their circle to breakthrough. The room supply Davida with a lot of mana, so much, in fact, she just fulfilled the mana requirements for a 6th Circle mage. When Davida opened her eyes, the mana around her dispersed, and she returned to sitting on the ground. "Congratulations, young miss!" Duncan clapped, congratulating his young miss while Diane smiled brightly and the little bunny cutely bowed inside the elf lady's hug.

"Thank you, everyone", Davida flashed a gentle smile at Duncan and Diane. She walked towards Diane and pet the little bunny, "Di, you didn't meditate?" Davida softly asked. Diane shook her head, "No. Although this room is full of mana, it's not a good place for elves like me to meditate. This room mana is too volatile, too rough for us elves. I prefer a place with calmer mana than this room," Diane explained. Davida nodded, turning her attention to Duncan, "What about you?"

Duncan smiled bitterly, "Even if I do meditate, I only do so for replenishing my aura. The day for improvement has long passed for me." Davida can feel the helplessness from Duncan's voice, making her a little bit sad. She stood up, dusting her clothes, "Are you guys ready?" All three of them, Diane, Duncan and the little bunny, replied by nodding their head. "Alright, we move".

===

The demon king sat on his throne while a young man meditates beside him. That young man was, of course, me. "Hmm, not bad. Your friends are not half bad. Although one of them had his foundation broken, he's still strong and smart during battle. Barely passable as the companion of my, the demon king, descendants and the upcoming Fate Master", the demon king rubbed his chin. "Yeah, yeah, you grumpy grandpa. Of course, they're strong; I wouldn't last a second if I fight against them," I grumpily said, but inside I felt proud. The demon king praised my friend? How could I not be happy that my friends were acknowledged by one of the mighties figures in history?

"Do you really think so?" The demon king provocatively asked, "Do you really believe that you would get washed by those 3 in a fight?" I flinched at his words. "You underestimate yourself. Being a 1st Grade Aura Master at the age of 16 is no easy task. Besides, you are a Fate Master. A Fate Master is incomprehensibly powerful. A Fate Master that didn't even practice aura or a mage could even kill a powerhouse of the 5th Circle Mage easily."

I shot sceptical eyes at the demon king, "Really? If what you said is true, how am I so weak then?" The demon king clicked his tongue, "That's a you problem" This is on purpose; he's doing this on purpose to irked me off. He continues, "Most Fate Master were weak at the start. They need to go into one of the Trials Ground, like this, finished their trial then be trained by the Trials Ground spirit, like me, to become stronger", the demon king explained, "Well, it's different for your case though. You just need time, and you'll eventually become stronger on your own."

Hearing the demon king's word, I sneered, "You still haven't answered the most crucial question in the room. Why did you think that I could beat Davida, Diane and Duncan together?" The demon king looked at me mockingly, "I didn't say that you could beat them. When did I ever say that?" My left eye twitched at this annoying old man. The demon king chuckled, "Hehe, don't worry too much. Once you finished training with me, you're going to be stronger than all of them", he proudly said.

I nodded my head, although I'm still quite suspicious of this old dude. The demon king casually swiped his hand, and the crystal ball in front of him expanded, becoming like a screen from a projector. Inside, I can see Davida, Duncan and Diane's were walking inside a strange prison. "Let's enjoy their adventure, shall we?" the demon king smile with amusement.

===

Somewhere in the world, a group of people in black cloaks was standing on a cliff. They observed below them, right on the Aeolus Great Bridge, a giant rock serpent was sleeping soundly with its body curled up. "How's the situation?" the black-cloaked man in the front asked. At the same time, right after he said that someone immediately arrived in front of the man, kneeling down. "It's still there, my lord", he reported.

"Good", the man nodded in satisfaction, "So, how's the growth?" The kneeling man slightly moves his head, "It's on the verge of forming its intelligence. The Rock Serpent's magic stone inside also grew a little bigger. From the size of a seed into the size of a thumb." The dark skies lighten from a thunderbolt, revealing the man's face. The man was the descendants of a highlander, shown by his slightly dark face and his red hair.

The red-haired man's expression was solemn; he spoke in displeasure, "So slow? Damn it! Because of that incompetent lot at Borea City, we've been assigned to continued their shitty job", the red-haired man spit on the kneeling man face, "Find a way to speed up its growth" he barked an order. The kneeling man trembled; being spat on in the face does not feel good, but the person in front of him was much stronger than him, so he can only endure. Seeing the kneeling man has not left yet, the red-haired man kicked the kneeling man, "Off you go then! Begone from my sight!" he said with annoyance.

After the kneeling man left, the red-haired man expression became more ugly, "Fuck. We need to hurry. If we wanted to revive our lord, we need to be fast", he turned around towards the other black-cloaked men behind him. "You have your orders! Set off!" The black-cloaked men nodded, putting their hand on their chest, saying in unison, "For the glory of the Demon Lord!"

The red-haired man replied solemnly, "For the glory of the Demon Lord!"

===

The demon king on the throne sneezed, "Who's talking about me?" I slightly open my eyes at the stinky old man before shutting them off again. The demon king seemed to sense what I thought as he looked in my direction funny. The demon king shook his head, looking at the giant screen in front of him. "Hooh, they're finally facing that guy…. Be very careful with that guy. Even I, back then, couldn't win against it cleanly" the demon king smirked at the entertainment shown from behind the screen.

===

Let's backtrack for a few minutes. Davida and company opened the newly materialized door. They saw a long row of candles lit up one by one, starting from the closest one. The corridor was maroon, the same colour as the massive hall before and the yin-yang room. The party walked for hours inside the passage. After a while, the atmosphere around Davida, Diane and Duncan become tense. Luckily for them, the little bunny was reliable in relieving a tense atmosphere.

The little bunny purposedly bit Diane's finger when she tried to give it a biscuit. After it did so, it let its tongue out and made a funny face at Diane. Just like always, Diane annoyance at the little bunny and the way they act together warms the heart of Davida and Duncan. The journey after was not that tense. Coupled minutes later, the group finally reached the end of the tunnel.

Once they stepped outside the corridor, just like the room before, the room lighting lit up, revealing the room's content to Davida, Diane and Duncan. They saw a row of cells beside them as they go so far as the eye can see. They also saw a second floor, housing the same amount of cells as the ground floor. At the end of the room, there's a large metal gate arching inward.

Davida resists her urges to explore the prison cells and get close to the large metal gate. On a closer look, the metal gate was bent inward as if hit by something strong. Davida called Duncan and Diane to her, "Be careful, guys", Davida warned them. They slowly entered inside the metal door using a gap made by the bent.

The inside was completely dark. Unlike the rooms before, however, the room did not light up. Davida pulled out a device from her pouch, a magic flashlight from earlier. She pointed the magic flashlight at the room and was shocked. Traces of blood was everywhere, even on the walls and in the ceiling. Duncan touched the blood marks on the wall. "It's dry", he said. Duncan then walked slowly around the room, inspecting it with his detailed eye.

Feeling crept out, Diane and the little bunny walked out of the room and waited outside. While Duncan was inspecting the room, Davida was inspecting the strange devices that were left in the room. Suddenly her eyes lit up. 'So, this room is a laboratory', she thought. Davida found that the device in the room was used for experimenting on something. That something, however, is currently unknown to Davida.

Diane and the little bunny was playing with each other outside the laboratory. They chased each other around before hearing something from the ceiling. "What was that?" Diane asked the little bunny. The little bunny was confused; it tiled its head cutely at Diane. Then, she heard a noise again somewhere. Diane closed her eyes, using her hearing to the fullest; she tried hearing the noise with more focus.