Chapter 14: Inflating Ego.

Awfully quiet were the barracks when Aza'zel arrived at the military camp. This illusion of peace would have surely fooled the inexperienced naive, but those were a rare catch in the Lower Abyss. 

It didn't take long for Aza'zel to reach the location of the cheapest military tents, and he was quickly discovered by the girl on watch duty. 

Aza'zel heard the commotion, and the next moment, the seven silhouettes rushed together and lined up all around him while saluting excitedly. 

"Stop following Old Freddy's example," Aza'zel waved his hand, exasperated. "Just call me Watcher, dispense with the lordship for now… While we're alone, just Aza will do," 

The girls looked among one another and shrugged, as they didn't really care much for the title in which they addressed their boss. 

"How many contribution points can we earn now?" June curiously asked while eyeing the bag on his back. 

"There should be enough for 2,000 points here," Aza'zel responded as he lowered the bag. "We're 1,000 points short of affording the second volume of the standard martial practice." 

Thinking back, Aza'zel was curious as to which big shot had decided to endorse Saxon, actually providing the latter with the complete first volume, including the full three stances and their thirty-six forms. 

The second volume was also separated into three stances; it was only that Aza'zel didn't know whether the military knew the relationship between these stances and the nine transformations. 

Perhaps this phenomenon was applicable only to those with nine colored source crystals. 

"Those manuals are so expensive!" June complained, crossing her arms while her lips pursed in the shade of her hood. "We had to spend 500 points to get this tent for our squad, leaving us with a mere 100 points. If you want to get the second volume of the manual, we have to hunt some more." 

"True," Aza'zel nodded, though he wasn't bothered. He explained the situation inside the dungeon past the valley to the girls and said, "Things might get hectic in the Nameless Valley, the competition between the two groups Shadows and Thorns is escalating." 

"I don't care," Tu interjected with a grin. "If they try to meddle in our business, we'll just kill them!" 

"I think it's better we keep low for now," June had a different opinion, and she elaborated, "I heard that an exploration unit from the aristocrats' military will be landing here soon, and it'd be a headache to mess with those guys." 

Seeing the others give her weird glances, June hurried to explain, "You can't deny that we're in the weaker position as things stand… We can surely handle a squadron or two of their armed forces, but then what? They will only act more ruthlessly  toward the innocent and vulnerable to vent their anger if they can't get their hands on us." 

Aza'zel could understand where June was coming from, as he had these concerns in mind as well. He desired for the myriad races to occupy the Lower Abyss and get comfortable for the long term, hence he didn't wish for their vanguard forces to suffer too much. 

It's barely the fifteenth year of Skysplit, the colonization efforts are still underway, and when the seven earls have consolidated their ruling over the respective regions of the seven grounds of Great Evils, surely they would steer their ambition and greed toward the neighboring territories. 

Aza'zel was positive that continuous explorations in the lands of evil would ultimately influence the minds of these people, and thoughts unthinkable to them in the past would become so commonplace, that it wouldn't be beyond the realms of possibilities that some of them would hire native vultures to attack, assassinate, and sabotage in the territories of their counterparts. 

When that time comes, the time when evil is flourishing, it wouldn't be too late to vent some selfish desire and relish in the acts. However, when the day did come, if they didn't have any past records or accomplishments to speak of, it would prove quite difficult for them to enter the radar of the aristocrats. 

The more he thought about it, the more determined Aza'zel felt. 

"That settles it," Aza'zel suddenly spoke up. "You girls can go train in the dungeon while harvesting evil blood pearls. The environment there can help push your bodies if you temper them periodically, especially with blood energy in conjunction with the standard martial stance. The two groups are probably  withdrawing from the Nameless Valley to make contingency plans for future conflict, and this window of opportunity can help you all concentrate on training." 

Val, who usually kept silent, spoke up with her whisper-like voice, "What are you going to do?" 

"I've accumulated enough in the past seven days," answered Aza'zel. "I need to seclude myself and digest the harvest, so I won't be joining you girls for now… If you encounter trouble, try to be light-handed with the vultures from Thorns, I have some sort of an ongoing corporation with Lady of Thorns." 

"What if they look for trouble?" 

Aza'zel looked over at Tu, who as usual, explored the depths of danger and trouble to satisfy her cravings. 

"Don't start trouble unprovoked," Aza'zel emphasized. "However, you're free to openly slaughter troublemakers otherwise." 

Aza'zel thought of something and added, "And don't go around baiting people into provoking you. I'll have Ce and Hailie supervise your actions and report back to me if you start any trouble." 

Tu's bubbling excitement dwindled at that remark, her fair lips pursed into a dissatisfied pout. 

Aza'zel relaxed his tone and said, "Don't think yourself to be powerful, you're only enjoying this headstart as an intentional benefit from my frequent discharging of source energy the last five years.  In the future, the nourishment of source energy from the portals to the Sacred Staircase continent will allow even more people to slowly grow and evolve, and some might even surpass you girls if they're present in the states under the seven earls as most of the source energy would be concentrated there. 

"Your targets shouldn't be bullying these weaklings, but those who are enjoying the benefits from the shadows while you relish in exercising your little amounts of power on your brethren from the Lower Abyss. You might feel like you're enjoying yourself now, but we're no more than struggling ants in their eyes, no matter how large the scale of conflict is." 

Aza'zel didn't wish for them to grow complacent. 

Every time he remembered that it took one word from some mysterious entity from the Sacred Staircase to wipe out an entire civilization of mankind, he felt cold in his heart. 

That power was absolutely incomprehensible to someone like him, and he didn't even dare inquire about it from the two maidens, Soulguider and Exsanguinator, lest it pressured his psyche to the point of giving up altogether. 

For now, he didn't want to wage war on those people, he only hoped to reclaim the Lower Abyss for himself and his race, even if the royal family consisted of no more than himself, Caidie, and Rebecca. 

The seven girls went silent at the reminder, remembering that whatever power they held at the moment was no more than scraps left behind by Aza'zel as he went about his daily training. If they could condense their individual source crystals, only then would this power truly belong to them. 

Aza'zel said, "All of you should be able to condense source crystals here since both Lady of Thorns and Kane were capable of doing it. You've been nourished by my blood energy and source energy for five years, and your potential is no lesser than theirs, if not better." 

He then waved his hand and added, "While Tu might stand to gain the most from this site in particular, the rest of you should condense the lowest-grade source crystals at the very least… Now, go!"