So he could see me. I needed to find out without revealing too much information myself.
"Take a guess." I respond and is surprised as to how much deeper my voice is now. It comes out as almost a hiss, which I like now.
"If I were to guess, you appear to be a demon, but you don't give off the demonic presence of one. You're something else, something much more, sinister." He says slowly after analyzing me.
I don't answer because I don't have an answer to him. I was classifying myself as a demon because I didn't know any better. I needed more information from him, but I needed to know what type of person he was to exploit it out of him.
"Who are you?" I ask.
He sighs, and I hear the pain behind it, telling me that he went through a lot.
"I was once a man of the church, dedicating my life to our god, Luminous. I wasn't that high of a rank, just a simple Deacon. You can refer to me as former Deacon Michael." He says.
"What does this church do?" I ask, even though I can guess the answer.
He locks eyes with mine, they reflect defiance even in his situation, "Extermination of evil creatures like you. Your vile existence is an affront to us."
"How do you know I'm evil? I actually came to free you." I retort.
"Ha. Don't insult my intelligence, creature. I can see it in your eyes. You have a hunger, and you're currently looking at me like a snack. Normal demons aren't like that. You're an abomination." He says and spits in my direction.
I see the religious types are the same in this world too.
"Oh, and how are normal demons supposed to act?" I question.
His mouth presses closed at my question.
"You won't get anything out of me." He says after a moment of silence.
"Well, look at you. Honoring your religion even after everything you've been through. Tell me, former Deacon Michael, why the undying loyalty even though you've been abandoned?"
He looks away, but before he does, I can see a look of sadness in his eyes. Good, now I knew what approach to take to further get information.
I step towards him and he snaps his attention back towards me. Not giving him a chance to rebuke my presence I begin.
"Now, now, Deacon Michael. There's no need for such animosity between us. I've done nothing to you, but all you've done is judge me based on my appearance. But, I'll overlook such trifling matters because I can't stand to see the look of sadness in your eyes. Tell me, what bothers you so?"
His eyes narrow at me. "What do you care, abomination? Save us both the trouble and kill me now."
"I do care, because despite what you think, I'm here to help you. In fact, let's make a deal. Swear on your god that if I free you, any questions I have will be answered truthfully." I assure him.
"You're lying." He says in a matter of fact tone.
"Make the promise and see." I respond and don't offer anything else for negotiation. I just remain silent, staring at him.
He also remains silent, contemplating the offer. "You'll let me live?"
I smile but remain silent.
A few more seconds of silence ,and then I hear,
"I swear on the Great Light god Luminous that any questions will be answered as truthfully as possible."
Without hesitation, my claws move quickly to strike the chains binding him, and he drops to the floor.
He slowly stands, rubbing his wrists as he looks at me with confusion.
"Would a demon actually free you?" I ask, genuinely not knowing the answer.
"No, they wouldn't have even talked with me to begin with." He answers.
I smile as my plan worked like a charm. It was a huge risk doing what I did, but worst-case scenario, I die again. Even if this body was new to me, I was pretty confident that I could take him on.
Religious types, especially the lower ranks, were basically brainwashed into doing anything in the name of their god. Depending on if that actually was a legitimate oath he took, he was inclined to answer my questions truthfully in honor of his god.
"Well ask your questions, so I can go, there are things I must do." He says impatiently.
I need to refrain from asking him questions about the church, because I don't need him realizing that he could avoid answering entirely.
"Tell me about magic."
He looks taken aback at my question, expecting me to ask something else.
"Uhm, magic? Oh, well, magic is fueled by mana, that is provided by the planet. There are many elements to magic, fire, water, lightning, earth, wind, natural, light, dark, and space are to name a few.
To become attuned, we need to go to a focal point and focus on the elemental stone of the element that we would want. Trying to focus on more than one element can cause a human to spontaneously combust. Attempting to focus on more elements than you can handle will cause death. There have been reports of some people who have up to three attuned elements."
"How does a human cast a spell?" I ask.
"By focusing their mana and performing the necessary chant." He simply responds.
So, I just needed to interrupt their chant and it cancels out a spell. "What about knights?" I ask, remembering the first person I killed here.
"They use their mana to enhance their weapons or movements. More powerful strikes or special attacks require chants. Some become attuned to an element and use said element with their weapon, rather than straight-up being a mage. Whatever does the job, I guess."
There was something he briefly mentioned earlier that I needed further explanation on.
"You mentioned something about planets before, what do you know about that?"
"There are billions of different worlds with different races found on each. They are divided into tiers based on the mana levels they produce. F is the lowest tier and S is the highest.
Right now, we're in some planet on Section D, where mana levels are average on a planet and where you'll find the most demon infestations."
Wait, so did they have space travel? If so, why were they walking around like medieval knights?
"How are you getting to all these planets?" I ask since I couldn't figure it out.
"When someone is attuned to space magic, there are weylines that connect a planet to the main network controlled by the church, allowing us to quickly respond to threats." He explains.
I was learning a lot, but there was one final thing I needed to know.
"Do you know who the strongest is on this planet right now?"
He smiles, "As a D tier planet, are extremely low chances of anyone being remotely strong. Even the King of the capital on this planet isn't that impressive. Therefore, you're talking to the strongest."
Holding back my smile, I further question, "How can you determine if someone is strong?"
"There are some factors that determine a person's strength. For instance, just because humans can be attuned with any element, doesn't mean it's for them.
People who find the correct attunement can cast stronger variants of spells, and their mana pool increases the more they practice with the attunement for them.
Different groups of people focus on a single element. Like the church focuses solely on the light element since it's so deadly against demons.
There is a cap on how much power you gain from finding your predestined element. Therefore, humans are also divided into categories.
Rookies, those who are dabbling in the element to see their predestined element, or those who found their element and need training.
Proficient, those who have studied in their element and can cast at least five different spells.
Champion, those who can consistently cast a high-level spell of their element.
Legend, those who are at the peak of their element and can no longer improve.
The increase in mana determines the tier of that category. If you received a high boost in mana, you're around the A tier. Lower boosts in mana will place you in the F tier. So, someone could be a B tier rookie.
Any more questions or can I go?"
I was pretty much had a grasp on everything that I needed to know before heading out. There was just the simple matter of loose ends to deal with. I was better off remaining an unknown to the church so, I could gather my strength by practicing magic uninterrupted.
"No more questions." I motion towards the door, "After you." I say with a devilish grin.