"The underworld has seven rings, or continents as you humans call them, a lot of small island clusters and a huge ocean that encompasses pretty much the entire realm. We have a red sun unlike the golden one here, this makes it more comfortable for demons like vampires who have an aversion to the sun I guess. Six of the rings are occupied by the houses of Lust, Greed, Pride, Gluttony, Wrath and Sloth while the oceans are controlled by the house of Envy, which makes it a priority for everyone to stay on good terms with them, unless you want giant floods and tsunamis to assault your ring." Lily said and both her and Mina shivered as if remembering something unpleasant.
"Now, I'm not exactly sure why the seventh ring is unoccupied, but that doesn't really matter. Now, the small island clusters are mostly controlled by the house of Envy but there is a particular group of islands call the red Isles that no one wants to go. That's because it is occupied by countless monsters that are consistently embroiled in battle, and these creatures are extremely powerful, ranging from undeads to bizarre entities that belong in nightmares and can bring a sense of dread to even to most powerful Demons. There are still a few who journey there for the abundant amount of resources present on these Isles, but even less of them make it back. Now the Red Isles isn't the only place with monsters, intact, monsters and beasts are everywhere in the underworld, including the oceans, it's just that those that live on the Red Isles are way more powerful and ferocious than others. Now, as for the difference between monsters, beasts and demons, I'm gonna need you to hand me the death crystal." Lily said and turned to Colin. He quickly took it out of his ring and handed it to Lily.
"Demonic energy is present in all creatures that are in the underworld and those that have been demonized by Demonic miasma, but even so, each species is fundamentally different. Some species are physically stronger than others, some are better at using magical abilities such as our affinities while others are smarter than others. But we don't have time to talk about the different Demon subspecies and how they differ from each other. There are a number of differences between demons, monsters and beasts, but the most notable difference is this." Lily said and held up the death crystal.
"This is a Soul crystal, or more specifically, a type of soul crystal called a death crystal. The demonic energy within a demons body flows throughout their body like blood, energizing every part of their body and making it easier to channel through out their body, but beasts and monsters are different in this regard. The demonic energy inside a beast crystallizes and fully forms a soul crystal when they reach tier 4 and the demonic energy flows from their soul crystal and into their blood, similar to demons, but the amount is a lot less, making their vitality less than a demons and in some cases, physically weaker than most demons. Now monsters, form a soul crystal when they reach tier 4 as well, but their physiology is weird." Lily said with a scrunched up look on her face
"That's an understatement." Mina scoffed
"They form soul crystals yet their vitality is stronger than demons and they are just as strong as a Demon excluding the true demons. Then there is also the fact that unlike demons who only have like a dozen different species, they have hundreds. Either way, just know that monsters are weird and deranged and extremely powerful. Now, the reason we call them Soul Crystals is because they not contain demonic energy, but also because they contain a bit of the creature's soul, don't ask me what that means because I have no idea. Soul Crystals are used to make cursed weapons and tools such as cursed regalias and storage rings, in other words they are extremely valuable, so you should keep them to trade with the Bartus Guild." Lily concluded her explanations. Colin and Alice took a few minutes to digest all this information, as all of this was new to them. Suddenly remembering something, Colin got to his feet under everyones' curious gaze and went into the hall. Suddenly, two corpses, the bat and the butterfly, appeared out of thin air and fell to the ground.
"How do I get the soul cores out of these?" Colin asked and the three of them looked at the corpses curiously. Mina's eyes lit up as she recognized that these corpses were very valuable.
"What are their species?" Mina asked and summoned a note book and pen from her storage ring.
"Umm, Dusk Bat and Illusory Butterfly." Colin responded and Mina quickly wrote them down. She then summoned a red dagger into her hand and jumped onto the corpses, and quickly and skillfully, dismantled them. She then wrote something down in her notepad, before all of the dismantled parts of the beasts disappeared leaving only their soul Crystal's. The bats soul crystal was completely black in colour, just like the death crystal but Colin could tell it was different because of the feeling he hot from it. The butterflies was pining in colour and it was always shifting and turning, like there was liquid inside the crystal.
"I will take the dismantled parts of the beasts and place them on your tab, I'll inform the boss of this of course. As for the Crystals, what do you want to do with them?" Mina asked
"So pretty, can I have the pink one, please?" Alice asked with dazzling eyes
"No." Colin refused and Alice's eyes dimmed
"Why not?" She whined
"Because you disobeyed my order before remember, think of it as punishment. Give me the crystals, I'll hold onto them for a while." Colin said, Alice pouted and Mina handed him the two crystals. He then took summoned the black box and placed the three Crystals inside, before placing it back inside the ring.
"By the way, you still haven't told me about your trip." Alice said