Of the fourteen members in the guild there were currently only half of them present in the diamond fortress, four members were out on Elite Force missions while the others were either out on regular missions or about doing their personal business.
For the remainder of their first day at Guild headquarters they were shown to their rooms to unpack after which they got more acquainted with the other members, learned a bit about the absent members and a bit of the guilds history. Buio who had already attained this information from Ryu didn't need it, however he participated anyways to keep up appearances. It was pretty weird sitting there pretending not to know his permaclone, while no one except for Aizuru even knew that it was an artificial lifeform.
Since they had reached the base in the evening there wasn't much else that could have been done anything else was put off until the following day. Neither Purple Coat nor Float were scheduled to go on any Elite Force missions as yet, however Fukutsuno had an assignment of his own so he wasn't around this morning but they had discussed going to the dimension tower prior to his departure.
The Dimension tower was a building which gave access to different dimensions where other beings lived. To everyones knowledge every continent and country had their own dimension tower. As far as everyone knew dimension towers had always existed, as for the reason no one was sure. Almost all the lore surrounding them was based on assumptions and hypotheses garnered throughout the ages.
Confirmed information however was that each dimension had different beings living in them and that they should be protected from the demon race. Demons were said to be strictly forbidden from having any effect on reality unless they shared a body with another soul in it. Due to this limitation members of the demon race had to seek out other beings who were willing or desperate enough to share a body with them, if not they would be stuck in their pure soul form living out a very limited and rather meaningless existence.
Members of the demon race were innately more powerful than most average beings, including humans. While the former were widely viewed as vile terrifying beings and a majority of all lifeforms in general tended to shy away from getting involved with them altogether, many beings still did.
Whenever a demon happened to gain access to a body sharing their mana, abilities and experience with them and working in unison to achieve their goals it tended to cause huge problems for not just that species but several others. Thus humans would gain access to the tower and traverse it's diverse array of dimensions gaining the experience, knowledge and allegiance of the beings dwelling there. In return they were able to help protect both the human race and several other dimensions over a period of time.
With all of these benefits came one major responsibility as well which was above all else, never let the barrier to the dimension where the demons were imprisoned become undone by any means.
Access to enter the demon realm was kept under strict observation and guarded by several very powerful individuals at any given point in time.
The dimensional barrier leading to the demon realm was divided into 7 segments. Each segment housed a different tier of Demons which was indicated in bright red runes on the arch above it's barrier.
Tier 1 demons were the weakest among the demon race, despite this fact they were well above the average lifeform in power and this difference in power only became higher from there until one got to tier 7 demons.
The segment of the demon realm which houses tier 7 demons was not a place to enter lightly. The upper echelons of their race were there of course, only the magi with a similar level of power to guild masters could venture there and even those magi still faced a very high possibility of dying. With this very fact in mind any being entering the tier 7 segment of the demon realm normally entered with a cohort.
These magi would have to be given authorization to enter by that kingdom or region's leader upon their first entry as well.
For lower tier segments one could enter and subjugate the demons there with the approval of a guild master.
Upon defeating a being which housed the soul of a demon, the victor could receive an ability, trait and or the mana of both souls inhabiting the body.
This process seemed random, however if you were powerful or skilled enough in mana manipulation to siphon most of the defeated beings mana prior to it's death getting its mana as a reward would be voided.
If this action had been enacted thus voiding the possibility to receive mana as one of the mandatory rewards, then the chance to receive all 3 rewards rose exponentially.
Another benefit of being able to traverse the different dimensions accessible via the towers was the ability to bond with another being and gain their abilities and knowledge without killing them.
This was the route taken by most, either by choice or by default. The capacity to increase the mana reserves you were born with had a ceiling afterall.
According to ancient lore this limitation was placed on all beings to achieve some form of equilibrium. Seeing as most demons were older and more experienced than all beings in existence.
However there wasn't a limit on the amount of mana one could utilize without storing it inside their body.
Therefore the more refined your mana manipulation was the more ways you could utilize mana without storing it inside your body.
However not every being had the same level of efficiency no matter what amount of training or knowledge they gained, this barrier was broken down by the ability to attain a beast bond.
Having a Beast bond allowed a person or being to have access to more mana as well as abilities and the capacity to utilize them without being overburdened.
A beast bond could act as an external source of power being able to assist in combat and other activities as well as share it's abilities and mana with the being it's bonded with.
Even persons born with less mana than average could gradually grow more powerful via this route.
Those who fell into that category didn't need to enter the dimension where the demons were imprisoned.
There were many roles for magi to play and those who didn't subjugate the demons could help protect the other dimensions or the human population, these duties could be carried out in groups.
This is how Buio Pichi gradually attained his current level of power.
He had used his innate ability to accumulate more than one beast bond and with the knowledge gained over time created several permaclones.
These permaclones trained gradually refining their abilities. Since a permaclone was a fully sentient clone of one's self which didn't need to be dismissed and were mentally connected to their creator all knowledge was passively passed between them.
Prior to three days ago Buio had been preparing contingencies and gaining infamy as Purple Coat, all of this preparation is what enabled him to try out for the Elite Force without the need to be reccommended by another person.
Now the day had finally come. Buio was standing before the entrance to the dimension of the demons at the tier two segment.
Although he would have preferred to be accompanied by Ryu and Tanoshi Aizuru they needed to be supervised by a senior guild member who had accessed the dimension of the Demons before.
That's why he was currently getting ready to step through the rippling barrier led by Garusu. As Buio passed through the barrier with Tanoshi following suit, a satisfied smile appeared on his face beneath his mask.