Domination

Levi stared at the messages, his mind now as calm as ice. He read each one carefully. 

The first message confirmed that his dormant core had been successfully formed.

Intrigued, Levi dived into his soul sea and he immediately noticed the changes. 

The once empty and desolate space was now more vibrant. It wasn't a paradise, but the cracks in the land had vanished, and despite the lack of a sun, a subtle twilight-like glow bathed his soul.

Levi calmly surveyed his soul sea before his eyes settled on the single core suspended in the space.

It had changed.

Previously, it looked like an empty glass sphere, but now it appeared semi-transparent, made of something akin to obsidian. Though the core was still empty, Levi could feel the essence within it.

In fact, he sensed more essence than before—it seemed his capacity to hold essence had increased significantly!

But that wasn't the only thing Levi noticed in his soul sea. He couldn't sense it before, but now he could. There were two strange powers residing within his soul, lurking at the horizon where he couldn't even see them. They were dark, terrifying, and made him shudder.

Levi had a suspicion about what they might be, after all, he felt the same sensation when he awakened his new power.

For now, he forced his consciousness back to reality and examined his body. He was still thin, and severely malnourished, but now Levi could feel raw power coursing through his limbs.

It was incomparable to before—he clenched his fist and instantly felt like he could crush the black cocoons with his bare hands.

It was exhilarating!

It was as if his muscles had been rebuilt and his bones reconstructed!

Levi stood up, stretched, and tested a few punches in the empty air. Satisfied with the results, he opened his status, eager to see what had changed.

-----------[Status]----------- 

Name: Levias Drake 

Rank: Demonic Follower 

Patron: The Darklord of the Endless Abyss 

Affiliation: Mercenary Federation (F-rank) 

Crest: — 

Demonic Core: Nascent-Essence

Demonic Essence: 1/1000

Trait: Demonic Soul 

Trait Ability: Demonic Transformation | Domination

Innate Ability: Shadow Self | Lunacy 

Artifacts: — 

Avatars: — 

-----------[Status]-----------

The first five lines of his status remained unchanged, he was still at the rank of Demonic Follower, with nothing significant altered there. 

But the next line, where his Demonic Core had been labeled as dormant before, now displayed something new.

"Nascent Essence?"

For a moment, Levi was puzzled. He had expected his evolution to somewhat mirror that of monsters, now that he possessed a core, but the appearance of a sub-rank was unexpected.

What did this sub-rank mean? Would he continue evolving from Nascent Essence to Inept Essence, and then to Vile? He had no answers, but the presence of "Nascent" suggested there would be further stages ahead.

As he continued reading, he was shocked by the leap in his essence capacity needed for the next evolution, which had surged from 200 to 1000!

"How long will it take to fill a thousand essences? And then? What will the next goal be—10,000?"

Just imagining it sent a chill down his spine, but such thoughts were pointless unless he managed to stay alive until then.

Reading further, he noticed that his trait remained unchanged, but a new ability had appeared in the Trait Ability section. Levi focused on the new ability, and its description emerged.

--------[Domination]--------

Ability Description: [Submit or Perish]

Current Dominions: [0/1]

--------[Domination]--------

"...."

Once again, Levi was left speechless. His first ability had a description of five words, and now this second ability had just three!

Levi was now curious to see if the Providence would even provide a description for his next Trait Ability or not!

And now that he thought about it, his innate abilities had relatively detailed descriptions, even if in a cryptic format, but his Trait Abilities were always brief.

"Wait a minute, wasn't there something about abilities in the contract?"

Levi instantly focused on the field showing his patron, and his contract details popped up.

----------------[Contract]-----------------

First Party: Levias Drake - A mortal, born of Earth.

Second Party: The Darklord of the Endless Abyss - The ancient ruler of the infinite void

Clause 1: Pact of Power

In exchange for the Darklord's power, Levias Drake shall complete a singular quest provided by the Darklord.

Quest: Create a Demonic Sanctuary on Earth, founded with an Apostle of the Abyss. This Sanctuary shall serve as a beacon to those who follow the path of the Abyss and as a stronghold for demonic forces.

Time Limit: The quest must be completed within ten (10) Earth years. Failure to complete the quest will result in Levias Drake's soul being devoured by the Darklord, condemning him to eternal torment in the Abyss.

Clause 2: Bond of Souls

Levias Drake's soul is irrevocably bound to the Darklord of the Endless Abyss. Upon his death, regardless of cause or circumstance, his soul will be claimed and devoured by the Darklord, with no possibility of redemption or release. The only way to nullify this clause is to complete the quest in Clause 1.

Clause 3: Inheritance of Power

As part of this contract, Levias Drake shall inherit a unique trait from the Darklord of the Endless Abyss, adjusted to suit the power level of a mortal.

Signed and Sealed:

By the First Party:

Levias Drake

By the Second Party:

The Darklord of the Endless Abyss

----------------[Contract]-----------------

The third clause—it mentioned that the trait he possessed was inherited from the Dark Lord of the Endless Abyss himself. Did that mean all his trait abilities also originated from the Demon King?

This thought sparked a deep interest in Levi.

Could it be that Providence couldn't decipher the trait abilities rather than intentionally blocking them? It seemed possible, but Levi wasn't sure. 

He tucked this thought away for later and focused on his trait ability.

Beneath the three-word description of the ability, there was another line that piqued his curiosity.

"Current Dominions? What does that mean?"

Once again, he had no idea, and there was no one to explain it to him. If only the Demon King could answer him—it would have been helpful. But since that wasn't possible, Levi could only look at the description with disappointment.

0/1 → It indicated that the ability allowed him to do something, limited to a single use.

"What could it be?"

He didn't know, but he decided he would explore the ability himself later.

The rest of his status hadn't changed much, so Levi closed it and stood up. There was something he wanted to try now that his body and soul had been strengthened.

Demonic Transformation—he was going to use his first ability again!

---***---