3

"Hit!" the princess shouts with a look of anger only to be dealt a seven and break for the eighth time in a row. " ughhhh this game is too hard! what other games can we play?"

---------

"Athena, do you have any threes?" I ask to which she looks a bit sad and passes over three threes and I set down a full set.

"Alice do you have any eights?"

"Go fish!" she just about yells finally happy to make me draw from the deck. "Athena your turn"

"Nova do you have any eights?" she looks more than satisfied to get her swift revenge as I hand over my two eights and she sets down a full set.

---------

While currently watching Athena and Alice play war I turn my focus over to my system interface

[ tier - intermediate demon

Shop ]

not much to look at other than the shop which has some nice options

[Shop - Sin total = 0

Tier up - 100 sin

Contracts basic - 10

Magic circles basic - 100

Inventory - 100

Garden - 1000 ]

I'm assuming sin is going to be my form of Aura and that it will probably be gained in similar ways. but that also brings me back to the lights I absorbed are they also sin? it would make sense based on how I got filled with some kind of color-coordinated emotion such as red making me angry and light blue making me lazy. with there being seven colors it's obviously the seven deadly sins, but where are they coming from? in the potions they come from the materials themselves. I close my eyes and focus on the lights I can see all kinds of colors in the room but a big bundle of purple is Infront of me and equal size of green is in the corner of the room. opening my eyes the purple bundle seems to be Alice and looking over the green is where Slee is sitting looking over at Alice and Athena flipping cards.

huh, so I guess it comes from living beings and just floats around until it disperses, which can't be too long or the whole world would be just one mass of colors but there are obvious blank spots. reaching out to the Sin in the room I feel it's much easier to pull it to me and absorption is almost instant as well. I wonder if I could ever set up an " auto loot " someday to pick it all up for me.

[Sin absorbed = 13]

Doesn't seem it will take me long to reach the first tier up and that should be my focus. Power and strength are all that matters in the demon world if you are strong that's all people care about.

"Hey, Nova! what other games do you know?" Alice walks over Disrupting my thoughts

"Alice we have been here for quite a while we need to head back soon." Athena interrupts before a new game can distract Alice.

"Awww I was having fun, I guess we should go before Shea sends the guards looking for me." She begins packing the cards up and turns to me. "I will let my sister know about the casino and also show her the cards she will most likely call for you by tomorrow." turning to look at Aldas now "Aldas is it ok if he stays with you tonight until we can make other arrangements?"

"Yes princess Alice he can use the guest room." he says with a short bow and then turns to Slee "Slee show him to the guest room and give him the things he will need to tide him over till tomorrow."

Standing up Slee motions to follow "Come with me and I will show you the guest room then prepare you with some effects." Following Slee out I notice how big the house is and looking out the windows there doesn't seem to be any other people living nearby. approaching the end of the hall Slee opens a door and waves me in. "this is the guest room I will go and grab a bowl of water and a rag."

Wondering what the bowls are for I realize running water isn't a thing here until Chen Rui gave the idea to those inventors he befriended. that thought alone put a huge damper on to my bubbling excitement at being in a world of magic and adventure. laying out on the bed and finding it surprisingly comfortable I begin to think of just how many things Chen Rui went through in the original. but let's be honest the harem life, in the end, made it all worth it but as things stand there's a lot to worry about like the abyss for starters. more immediate problems are gaining Shea's trust so I can start building up a foundation to gain anything I may need. there are lots of small things I can remember like town Yankou having a hidden mine that they didn't tell Shea about that's making them an abundance of black crystal coins. also, the Mellon family is like triple traitors working for just about everyone and having a realm king fruit in their basement that helps people learn territory and break through to the demon emperor rank. speaking of that fruit if I can get to it and use time on it can I make it ripen quicker before blood fall sends someone to retrieve it? and blood fall, Lord of Midnight Sun is the leader inside of the body of a prince from bloody empire. lots of problems almost feel impossible but for some reason, I still can't wipe the grin on my face. the thought of what's ahead and all the problems still don't curb my enthusiasm, I'm looking forward to this.

*knock knock * odd how fast it went from me being in a cell to someone knocking on the door before entering.

"Come in!" I watch as Slee brings in a bowl of water and a beach towel-sized rag.

"Here is the water and rag I will go back to assisting master Aldas we will have dinner soon."

"I'm not hungry I will probably just go to bed." he nods and walks out of the room.

As soon as the door is closed I dip the rag into the water then set it beside the bowl and try to speed up the drying process with my magic. imagining the towel drying out I feel the pull again almost like when you hold two magnets barely apart and then I let go and watch as the towel dries at a speed the eye can see. the pull now feeling like a straw sucking out what I assume to be demonic energy ramps up till it slowly tapers off into nothing and I feel the towel and its dry. feeling excited at accomplishing something magic I can't help but smile till I realize I'm getting hyped up by drying a towel faster. I begin looking around the room to try different things with my new ability such as throwing a pillow and slowing its descent or outright stopping it in place. I then notice a garden beneath the window opening the window and letting my wings out I try to gently lift myself and nothing happens. Then I focus some demonic energy into my wings and begin to float and grab the windowsill and pull myself out. imaging myself going down I suddenly feel the full effect of gravity and plummet.

* Crash *

" Ooooof that could have gone better " looking around for any witnesses I see I'm on my own and brush it off and walk toward the garden. placing a hand on a bud of some flower I imagine time flowing faster to the point of the flower blooming. over ten seconds, the flower in question blooms into a wide almost white sunflower. I wonder how exactly this works with how this plant should of dehydrated, or am I just overthinking it and should just roll with the fantasy setting? probably that but let's try this a few more times.

---------

* Knock knock * "Sir Nova." I wake up to the sounds of a muffled voice calling for me and groggily look around and see moonlight pouring into the window.

"Man, no sun is going to take some getting used to." walking toward the door I throwback on the same dirty shirt I had on yesterday because I have no other clothes. "Yes, Slee?" I open the door to see Slee standing on the other side.

"Master Aldas has asked for you to come and speak with him" he begins walking so I trail behind.

"Any chance I can get some breakfast?"

"You can eat after you speak to Master Aldas." he rounds a corner and I see Aldas sitting at a table writing on something. "here he is Master Aldas"

"Ah Nova I have some news for you, a messenger came by and Shea agreed to see you later in the day. You will have to prepare, I will give you some coins to go and buy some clothes so you can make yourself presentable... or the best you can." the last part is barely a whisper but choosing to ignore it since he is buying me clothes to wear.

"Is there a clothes store near here or-"

"Slee will guide you to the store then an escort will come for you later in the afternoon. I am busy and don't have the time to entertain you so best if you get started now." basically getting the get out of my hair vibe from him I turn and begin walking for the door and Slee follows.

Once we are outside Slee begins to lead the way and I focus on just absorbing sin I can reach now that I'm in a new area I haven't absorbed at. arriving at the store it seems to be a menswear-only establishment and I pick some pretty basic black pants with what I assume is their dress shirt in black as well. I also grab a new pair of shoes they have two options boots or sandals so I go for the boots. after paying I see there is still half the money left over.

"Hey Slee any place around here we can get some food for what I have left over?" the little guy also seems to have skipped breakfast and looks hungry.

---------

After getting clothes and eating I ask Slee to just walk around since there isn't anything for me to do back at the lab. at first, he rejected but when I said I would just bother Aldas and put him in a bad mood he agreed and now we're walking around and I'm getting a lot of sin.

[Sin absorbed = 115]

After walking for what felt like a few hours I have got enough to do a little shopping.

[ Confirm purchase - Tier up - 100 sin ]

[ Confirm purchase - Contracts basic - 10 sin ]

[ Total = 110 sin ]

"Confirm."

Knowledge seems to appear in my head like it has always been there of how to make different contracts and their uses. as well as a rush of power filling me, if before I was a cup now I'm a bucket.

[ Congratulations on promoting to Higher Demon - rolling ability wheel! ]

[ Ability drawn - Belial - Worthless ]