The classroom was somber and terrifying, filled with instruments of torture, and behind a black stone lectern stood a fiendish demon.
His name was Enos, a Diamond Level (Level VII) Horror Demon with two massive bull horns on his head, resembling a beast that walked upright.
His towering body was cloaked in a crimson robe, and his crimson eyes emitted a frightening, malicious light from under the shadow of his hood.
Behind him, the blackboard was even more remarkable, displaying a scrawled line written in chalk—
[On how to efficiently torture humans and collect Fear Energy from their screams.]
"Fear and charm are different, yet essentially the same... our power source is people's faith. Our followers won't worship us, but they will be constantly terrified by us, and in fact, that is a form of prayer."
"Hence, deceased followers are meaningless, only the living can continuously contribute power to us."
"Note this... we must instill fear in our prey yet avoid torturing them excessively to the point of death or damage."
"After all, if the prey loses its response to external stimuli, whatever we do becomes meaningless. Therefore, the most supreme form of torture is often intangible... However, you must also be cautious, if the torture is too mild, it might backfire, such as making the prey overly excited, which we must also avoid."
"Pay attention! Don't think that these lessons are useless to you if you are not a Horror Demon, even if you are an Enchanting Demon, you could learn from them. Never let your prey get to you; they will view you as their deity only when they can't have you... I hope what you've learned from Ms. Lilith isn't just how to pose and preen."
This is Hell's highest institution, the Demon King Academy.
As the name suggests, it is a place for cultivating Demon Kings.
Of course, as humans on the surface have grown stronger, the Demon Kings aren't as revered as they were five hundred years ago; they have almost become a consumable commodity.
Thus, the aspirations of most students are to stay in Demon City, ideally securing a position within the Ministry of Internal Affairs... but that's beside the point.
In any case, in order to stay behind after graduation, the students under the lectern listened intently... except for Luo Yan, who had chills running down his spine.
The reason was simple.
Everyone present was either a demon or undead, only he was human, and he sat right in the middle of the classroom.
Whenever the lesson touched on the topic of humans, even if he was normally thick-skinned, it was hard for him not to clench up.
Especially when Professor Enos occasionally split his gaping mouth into a mysterious smile at him.
Enos's smile was one thing, but sometimes trouble also came from beside him.
Rumi, the Horror Demon who sat at the next desk, was sneaking glances at him, looking ready to act... Luo Yan hoped the demon was only fantasizing and would not actually take a risk.
Sitting on the other side, Dream Demon McKinley was blowing air toward the Flame Demon in front, muttering under his breath.
"I heard humans are more likely to fall asleep in environments around forty degrees..."
Luo Yan didn't know where McKinley had heard that, nor did he want to imagine what McKinley hoped to do after he fell asleep.
As for Professor Enos's class, he felt that even if he were cooked, he likely wouldn't be able to sleep.
Compared to the two buffoons on his left and right, even more outrageous was Ms. Mia, sitting behind him.
Ms. Mia was an Enchanting Demon with pink hair and the tips of her tail and pupils shaped like hearts; her ears even bore a pair of sheep-like curved horns.
She had altered her school skirt to be so short that one hardly knew where to rest their eyes.
From the beginning of the class, she had been heckling him, kicking his chair with the toes she coyly slid under the desk or blowing exaggerated yawns towards the back of his neck.
She was the most dangerous!
While other demons needed to cast spells, she could suffice with her racial abilities alone.
Without casting spells, there would be no trace left, and if affected, there was nowhere to seek justice.
Luo Yan dared not be careless, fearing that the techniques discussed in class would be applied on him on the spot.
Aside from him, there was only one other guy in class who seemed somewhat normal, named Egger.
Though an Enchanting Demon, Egger was a male and belonged to the lowest tier of the high-level demon ecosystem.
Because Luo Yan's status was akin to that of a giant panda, designated as a "protected species" by the Demon God, bullying him carried severe legal consequences; thus, usually, Egger ended up as the bullied one in class.
Poor Egger, his pitiable gaze sometimes made even Luo Yan, a straight man of steel, feel a twinge of compassion.
Of course, sometimes he wasn't sure whether Egger was just pretending...
He might also need to be on guard!
The frequency of chair-kicking had become somewhat excessive, Luo Yan, unable to endure it any longer, turned around and gave Mia a glare.
However, far from relenting, she provocatively licked her lips.
Her wine-red pupils were as enticing as sweet chocolate gummies, and merely locking eyes with her made Luo Yan's mind uncontrollably wander for a moment.
It wasn't magic, but the racial ability of Enchanting Demons... these creatures' pupils naturally possessed a captivating power.
Only high-level demons or those with sufficient spiritual power were immune, but Luo Yan clearly didn't belong to either category.