Path to Rank 2

In one of his house's rooms meant for training where the concentration of the natural energy was the greatest, Zatiel was meditating. Every fixed time, he would take from his spatial ring a cube of meat and devour it. The moment it reached his stomach, it was immediately converted into pure energy that flooded his body.

It has been five months since he signed the contract with Tritus to sell his runes through the Empire. They were really successful because even though he was a new runemaster that no one has heard about, the reputation of the association was excellent. People know that they would not sell mediocre products, so after hearing the effects of the runes, they were sold at an impressive rate.

A month ago, his runes were completely sold out, and he had to create another batch. This time the number of runes that were able to perform beyond their limits was almost a third, greatly impressing the Rank 0 Runemaster that came to take them.

With the wealth he obtained, he divided the food and magic crystals into four. Giving a quarter to Sophia and Ezequiel for their experiment and enhancement in power, leaving 35% for him and saving the rest for the kobolds.

Although those cubes don't look tasty and appear just like compressed meat, the reality was that the taste and energy inside were impressive since it was entirely made from Rank 1 creatures. They were made from carcasses that the Empire bought or creatures that they raise as livestock. A Rank 1 Magus would take a day to digest, but to a Neo-Demon, barely an hour was needed before they could consume another.

As the energy fills his body, Zatiel divides it into four strands and sends them to his two hearts. Two of those strands were sent to the golden sun and the chaotic core that improves his energy pool. The other two entered directly to the cells that formed those hearts, enhancing the speed at which they were transforming.

Neo-Demons were a race that focuses on their bodies and energies, both equally important. For the advancement in the Ranks, they need to increase their abyss aura and also transform their organs. In Rank 1, this transformation begins with their hearts. They have to grow the Bloodline Heart to a mature state and finish the transformation of the original heart into an Elemental Chaos Heart.

Elemental Chaos was an energy of an even higher level than abyss aura. Taking small parts that the Chaotic Core generates and fusing them into their original heart is the first step a Neo-Demon must take for transforming themself into a life form so unique that they will be able to use this type of raw and dangerous energy directly with their bodies and soul, something even demons can't do. 

As for the Bloodline Heart, it was created when the Neo-Demon advance to Rank 1. But it is not completed and must be fully matured so more bloodlines can be assimilated in the future.

Due to these characteristics and the significant changes they go through, the amount of energy a Neo-Demon needs to consume to advance to the next Rank is monstrous. To the point that the resources required for ten Rank 1 Magus to progress to Rank 2 is the same as Rank 1 Neo-Demon needs. 

You have to understand that the Magi Path is a top tier path of the universe.

As for Zatiel's case, this was special. Since his bloodline was of such a high degree, the amount of energy needed to mature his Bloodline Heart was almost twice the one Sophia and Ezequiel would use, despite the difference in their bloodline being of a single grade. 

And he also needs to improve his second source of energy that comes from the golden sun.

Zatiel's path would transform him into a black hole for resources, always needing more. Despite the difficulty, as he advances, his superiority over the rest will become more evident.

After depleting the energy that the last cube of food gave him, Zatiel opens his eyes. Using his consciousness, he starts to assess his condition.

"A.I. Chip, show me the current status of my body and display how much I have advanced with my two hearts."

[Bip... analyzing the host...

Strength: 41.6

Physique: 61.2

Speed: 59.4

Abyss Aura: 66.1

Sun Force: 62.3

Bloodline Heart: 13% completed

Elemental Chaos Heart: 17% completed]

"I have a long way to go and as I advance the amount of resources I will need will only grow up. My speed is acceptable for now, but if I continue at this rate, it would take me another thirty years to advance to Rank 2. I need to get my own Magic Tower, with that I will be able to obtain all the energy that I need, but they are really expensive and since signing a contract to become part of an organization as an individual, is not an option, I will have to find a different way."

For Zatiel, it may be slow. But to any other person in the Magi World, advancing to Rank 2 before half-century was a display of talent only achievable for those geniuses that only show up every couple of millennia. That was if they only focus on their raw power, not dividing their times with other things. Still, they are expensive to nurture, and they were part of a great power that would provide them with the best resources that exist. But being someone that was able to rise from an ant to an Overlord, his standards were almost impossible for anyone to achieve.

"It's enough for now," Zatiel stood up and went to his laboratory where some resources were in the final stage of processing and transformed into raw material for rune crafting.

For Zatiel, his power's improvement is a priority, as it was the cornerstone of every mighty existence in the universe. After all, no matter how good you are in rune crafting, if someone is powerful enough, they could just take it from you. But being an old monster and the creator of Neo-Demons, he knows that the improvement of his energy and body must be a gradual and systematic process. His body needs to rest from time to time to adjust to his changes. Otherwise, it runs the risk of generating a flaw in his transformation. This will make his future path difficult, like putting too much pressure into his Elemental Chaos Heart or Bloodline Heart, injuring them.

There were diverse resources in front of Zatiel. All of them were already processed into raw material. From each one, the amount of natural energy you could perceive was higher than the one needed for any kind of Rank 1 rune.

"Excellent, the processing was done without a flaw. Now the challenging part comes, that it is inscribing the rune. However, creating it with a 100% certainty will require a set of skills that I don't currently have. The sooner I create this rune, the better, as the amount of time it will save me is great." 

Zatiel was concentrating, and his mind was focused on this task, as the importance of this rune was incredible. The cost of the material was so high that even after using almost all the magic crystals he keeps for him, he could only buy three sets.

Zatiel took a piece of skin from his ring and assessed his quality before nodding.

"Using the skin of a rank 2 magic creature will allow me to retain almost all the efficacy of this rune. It will be preferable to inscribe it directly into my body, but if I were to do it, my chances of success are less than 3%."

Since enhancing his power only needs him to direct the energy to his organs and hearts since they absorb it for themselves, it doesn't create an enormous strain on his mind. So after resting a couple of minutes, he starts the inscription.

His eyes were focused, and his hands were steady, like always, as he started. The lines and figures that were part of this rune were thousands. They were interconnected in hundreds of ways. Some of them were so minimal that they were undetectable for the naked eye. You needed to have a consciousness, more potent than the one a Rank 1 being would have to see them. Still, Zatiel was able to use his A.I. Chip to guide him through these parts, generating a sort of hologram in his mind that shows him these invisible lines.

As the hour's pass, the lines start to take form inside the creature's skin, and you could see how a palm-size rune was being conceived from hundreds of merged lines and figures, yet the unseen ones were thousands. The process was slow, and the concentration of Zatiel had to be absolute, exhausting him greatly.

It was on the seventh hour of work when almost a fourth of the runes was remaining to be done. Due to the exhaustion and the fact that he could not see most of the lines and had to guide himself by the illusion in his mind created by the chip, Zatiel made a mistake.