The Demon stares straight ahead at me with a confused look.
"I'm from the central kingdom. More specifically, the Realm Capital, now run by the lords of the five remaining nations. I'm serving my sentence by being contracted out as a labyrinth guardian in the human world. If I grow my Labyrinth to its maximum potential, and bring its stored mana back to the Demonic Realm, I'll be free. I'm not sure where else I'd come from, or why else I'd agree to become the guardian of this place, isn't it obvious?"
I nod slowly and step forward with my arms crossed.
"Right... Obviously..."
I stop and pause for a moment, thinking about how this demon, and even other demonic creatures and monsters, have all mistaken me for a demon before too. It's very odd. Even though I have demon cores, I've seen monsters and humans have cores before too, and it's not like I easily mistake them for demons. I'm still not sure why, but I'll take advantage of this if it puts the creature in front of me more at ease.
"So this Myth, the one about a power that allows someone to steal and grant skills. What do you know about it?"
The Demon eyes me curiously, then shrugs.
"I don't know much. It's not like I was alive during ancient times. I know just as much as any other demon in the capital. It's a story, well, more like a myth told between fledgling and even greater demons that seek more skills and more power when they're just starting out. Some Demons say there was once a Demon Lord that could manipulate the system as easily as breathing. He could just look at you and increase your power from that of a newly born demon to a peak arch demon in the blink of an eye. He could grant you any skill you wish and take it away too. It's not a real Demonic Ability, just an ancient rumor."
The red-skinned demon lets out a sigh and looks at me with his white glowing eyes.
"See? Just a child's fantasy. As a peak tier Arch Demon yourself, someone who has conquered their own labyrinth and lives free with your dragon, you know what power is. Whatever trick you've used to lock my teleportation skill is very convincing, but it will come back in time.
The Demon laughs.
"I'm not gullible enough to fall for your tricks even if you are leagues above me in strength. You know the rules of the system cannot be changed."
I stare back into its eyes.
"Well, then I guess we just disagree. I believe there's much more to the system than meets the eye."
It's not that I blindly believe this. It's that I've seen it happen, and I'm the one that makes these feats come true. Ever since Qi was introduced into the mix, the capabilities of the system have been changing. I'm able to move in and outside of the lines of pure mana-powered reason to use my skills to a capacity that shouldn't be possible by normal means.
The Demon laughs again, stepping back and shaking its head.
"You really are from outside the capital aren't you? I heard that some rebels in the outer nations were acting up because of some phenomenon happening in the human world. There must be a lot of mana up for grabs lately, what's going on out there?"
I shrug and reply, seeing no reason not to tell him the truth.
"Maybe it's because of the new throne awakening. Most of the large scale mana fluctuations have been because of that. It's the main reason I was able to create this labyrinth on such short notice actually."
Once I turn back to the demon, its expression completely changes.
Instead of the nonchalant, easy-going, curious, and almost bored attitude it was showing me before; the creature's eyes widen in shock.
"You mean– The next Demon Lord— Will be chosen here on the human world...?"
I smile.
"Looks like it. Why is that so shocking?"
"Well– It's not- Or at least it shouldn't be. Sometimes the thrones do spawn off-world, but it's just not very common... Usually they appear near the capital, at least all of the ones logged in history books I've read have been nearby. I had just hoped that I would get to see one form in my lifetime once my time building a labyrinth was up. It looks like that won't be the case, unless I live long enough to see the next one. I've always wanted to witness the true pinnacle of power... but I've never seen a demon lord with my own two eyes."
He sighs, but I reply quickly.
"Well, that brings us full circle. If you will truly be free once this labyrinth has hit its maximum floor, then we both have a common goal. Pledge your loyalty to me, and I will help you grow this labyrinth to 100 floors. Work with me, and one day you'll see a demon lord in the flesh. I guarantee it."
I put out a hand for the red-skinned creature to shake, but it takes a step back.
"I- Can't. If you're really a rebel from an outer nation, just being in contact with you could get me banished from living in the capital once I return. Submitting loyalty to you before completing my duty is a whole new level of disobedience to my superiors. My entire bloodline could be wiped clean from the Demonic Realm for committing a deed like that."
I tighten my gaze, then put my hand back down to my side.
This demon knows I have the power to kill it on the spot, and we both have the same goals in mind. It even witnessed me take a skill from its status like a myth it heard from its younger years, yet there is someone or something it fears disobeying over me.
I move forward to it and place a hand on its shoulder, then point to the ceiling of this boss room where the labyrinth's system details are visible to me.
"You can see that right?"
[Floors Available: 26/100]
[Mana Necessary to create next Floor [2.453T/3T]]
As it nods, I dungeon walk us to the volcanic floor filled with lizardmen below us, and let about 75 containment stones filled with 7-8 billion MP inside each of them out and place them in the center of the dungeon.
"Watch closely."
I send a mana blade into the center of the glowing pile and dungeon walk us to the far side of this dungeon while putting up a dense red Soul energy barrier to protect us from the high-powered blast of energy worth over half a trillion MP.
Rock, lava, loud noises, and violent swirling energy fill the entire dungeon, but both of us watch from within my Soul Energy barrier unharmed while the energy settles and dissolves into the dungeon.
Over half of the dungeon mass is decimated, but that doesn't stop the labyrinth from marking that energy has been added to it and brings us into the blue and white sphere-shaped room to transition into creating another floor.
A few minutes pass and a new floor with level 590-610 tortoise monsters in a hot desert forms. I can sense about 60 of them, most have body hardening skills, but every 30 or so have an extreme earth summoning ability and are 10-15 levels higher than the others.
I dungeon walk us back into the cold and dark cave-like boss room that now sits on the floor above this one.
We look at the ceiling again.
[Floors Available: 27/100]
[Mana Necessary to create next Floor [0.058T/3.5T]]
The demon stares at the reading for a moment, then back at me.
"So you do have the means to grow this labyrinth."
I nod.
"I can give you any skill you desire as well... I'm not lying about this. However, there's a good chance I'll kill you if you decline."
It stares at me with a puzzled look on its face for over ten seconds before responding.
"Your words confuse me. I can't submit to you. You of all Demons should know why... Forming a new loyalty contract would nullify the one I have activated now. Meaning this labyrinth's guardian would cease to be. Once it has reached its peak, I'll be able to fulfill my duty back in the Demonic Realm and leave to form a contract with you if you can truly follow through with your promise to grow this labyrinth."
I'm thrown off by its response, but my lie detector skill only senses truth coming off of the demon before me. It really cannot break whatever labyrinth contract it created in the demon world, and for the sake of keeping my human identity hidden, I put out a hand to shake and decide to leave while I'm still ahead.
"Fine. I bring this labyrinth to 100 floors, and in return you submit your loyalty once it's hit its peak."
The Demon grabs my hand and responds in a sarcastic tone.
"Don't forget my skill and that meeting with a Demon Lord you promised too."
I nod and shake his hand.
"Of course, I assumed that was already part of our agreement."
We both step back from each other and he speaks.
"Well... good. You are quite the odd one. Usually a peak form Arch Demon wouldn't ever talk with an unawakened like me. I'm Pluto by the way, what's your name?"
I respond.
"If you really care to find my real name, I'm sure you can see it digging through the Labyrinth information. However, you can call me The Flame Emperor."
I ignite my body in fire, heating up the entire boss room instantly and leaving him with a final goodbye.
"Protect this place with your life. I'll be back to add more floors after I attend some business in the human world. Nice meeting you, I'll have more questions once I return."
The Demon's confusion about the entire situation only grows as it sees this fire magic being used.
I don't wait around to hear its response, I just dungeon walk to the first floor of the labyrinth and step out into the canyon of dungeons.
I look back at the spinning green labyrinth portal, then immediately cover up any entrances to this portion of the cave with earth magic and leave my body double that watches over the canyon with a quick recap of what happened via telepathy.
I take the slow and old-fashioned way of travel back to the town, walking on the stone pathway as the early morning sun rises.
Today, I'll be attending a few meetings with some Regional and Sector leaders to fulfill their item orders. I'm excited to meet some new powerful people and get paid the remaining 75% of the order value.
Before that, I need to make a stop at the guildhall.
According to the energy readings I'm sensing right now, the isolation pod in the underground bunker is already open, and Ember is wide awake.
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Author's Note:
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