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Chaos woke up. His crimson-red eyes flashed with bright light, as he felt refreshed.
He had slept for who knows how long, but he felt like his soul had recovered enough miasma and his mana was back to full.
In fact, he just noticed that his Mana had increased by a few million, it seems that the more he uses it to his limits, the more it will slowly increase as if he were exercising it like a muscle.
Perhaps his very soul was also growing stronger by the amount of mass he made it lose and then regenerate, as he felt a bit stronger than before.
Could this be called soul cultivation, to an extent? In some kind of way, it was.
He was slowly making his soul get tired and reduce its mass, to rest and then make it regrow anew, with even more power within it. It was rather good, but Chaos didn't particularly thought that it was an effective way to do it, especially because he had to sleep for some time to recover the soul.
He jumped out of his bed and walked outside the room…
"Surprise!"
Suddenly, a large group of servants led by Belphegor and Abyss greeted Chaos with a giant loot.
A large pile of corpses of high-ranked monsters, and a giant phantasmal net filled with thousands of souls screaming in agony, asking to be freed.
"Eh?"
Chaos couldn't help but wonder what was just going on… Did they all hunt this for him?
"My lord, after you slept for around 36 hours, we had brought you a large loot to feast on!" said Belphegor.
"We hunted a lot of delicious beasts for you, Master, so please eat up to your heart's content!" said Abyss.
"Belphegor and other ghosts also picked up a lot of souls, so you can recover your soul and strengthen it by consuming them, my lord," said Natalia.
"Is that so…?" asked Chaos in disbelief. He had never actually expected this, especially because he never asked them to do this.
Yet.. they did it for him out of dedication, devotion, and love. They were honestly worried about him and wanted to see him happy, while also making him stronger in the meantime.
Sometimes Chaos wondered what the meaning of devotion was, or what made others grow attached to other people, he had grown attached to Belphegor and Abyss a bit, but not the rest. He had simply been taking care of them because he felt like he had to.
But now, new emotions blossomed within the cold heart of the Vampire Dragon, as he began to understand and learn more about the meanings behind emotions.
Even as the monster that he was, he began to value those at his side, this little gift was more than he could have ever expected, while he slept, they brought him enough food for him to pick up a bunch of new skills, satiate his hunger, and strengthen his soul.
For the first time for most of the people here, Chaos couldn't help but show them a sincere smile, something that actually blossomed naturally on his cold and expressionless face…
"I don't know why you did this but… Thank you, everyone. Let's eat together," he said, making everyone skip a heartbeat.
"Ah! With such words I am satisfied!"
"My lord, such a beautiful smile!"
"We love you, my lord!"
"This is merely the work of your devoted servants, please, do not mind it!"
"My lord's smile is the most beautiful."
"I am glad you're happy, my lord!"
"Please, eat everything as much as you want!"
"We want you to grow stronger!"
The many voices of ghosts, colossus, skeletons, living armors, demons, slimes, and more resonated through the entire castle, everyone was fascinated by their lord's words, as the devoted monsters that they were, the happiness of their master was their greatest goal in life.
Seeing him happy and even smiling was the greatest feeling of happiness they could experience, it filled them with passionate devotion.
Some bold ones such as Abyss quickly hugged him, as Chaos petted her head.
"Master Chaos, I am glad we could make your day!" she said.
"Yes, it surprised me, in a good way. Let's go eat, I am starving," said Chaos with a mild smile, as everyone quickly moved everything into the large throne room, many tables and seats were set as several ghosts and Abyss clones, alongside orcs that were good at cooking began to prepare everything into delicious plates. Large steaks of roasted meat, delicious, skewered meat, meatloaf, meatballs, and much more, it was a feast of meat from all sorts of creatures!
There were around a dozen of monsters he had never seen before, Chaos was rather surprised, some of them seemed like giant turtles or wyverns, while others resembled large snakes. There were mostly reptiles, as those were the type of monsters that roamed around here the most.
As Chaos began to devour a giant turtle by himself, Belphegor and Abyss ate at his side and explained to him some things.
"My lord, it seems that due to your high density of miasma, many monsters around the enormous island are moving to our territory, seeking your miasma," said Belphegor.
"Is that so? Why?" asked Chaos.
"Miasma seems to be the lifeblood of monsters, especially those on this planet, who feed on it the most. Also, monsters that remain in places with high densities of miasma are usually healthier and can reproduce quicker, so coming near such a big source means that they can live and prosper," said Belphegor.
"The thing is that they wanted to destroy the castle to reach you, so we killed them until they stopped coming! But I believe that more might arrive in a few more hours, after all this island is infested with monsters, and all the dungeons keep producing them nonstop!" said Abyss, who was rather knowledgeable after being taught many things by Belphegor.
"I see. I wonder if they would want to become my tamed pets," said Chaos.
"Hmm… They seemed way too fierce, perhaps if you beat them to almost death!" said Belphegor.
"I see, perhaps," said Chaos, munching a giant eyeball.
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