Skills would be a focus later; as right now, the focus was on Xaren who was feeling pain in his soul and that pain was reflected in his physical body in the form of a migraine.
The information flooding his head allowed him to understand exactly what was going on here.
The first thing that entered his head was a name.
Well, calling it a name was a bit of an understatement as it appeared to be more of a sentence than a name.
Xarenthe Zogakoth Uth'tag Manoz Virgath Nerazid Ascelin.
Thanks to the information that came alongside it, he understood that this was his 'True Name'.
By gaining this True Name, the reality that he had become a demon in both body and soul sunk in.
A true name was the closest thing to any existence's soul, and touching their true name meant touching their soul.
One must protect one's true name from being fully known, especially in cases where said true name is given by one's parents.
If someone knew your full true name, they could exert control over you in many ways, from your thoughts to your actions.
They could even make you kill yourself!
This was why the names that people knew each other by were only just segments of their true names. This also applied to Demons as well, with their very lengthy names.
Mixed in with his true name, was the name he possessed in his previous life.
Xarenthe.
His soul retained that name though he didn't know why, and it had now mixed into the true demon name he possessed now.
Since he was used to it, he was going to continue identifying himself as Xaren.
Next, was information about his location. He was in one of the hatching grounds for demons. The Demons here had all apparently either been laid as eggs or live born, then put into these incubation cocoons and sent here.
As for why they were sent here, this wasn't included in the information.
What was included, however, was what Xaren could only call a 'Survival Guide'.
The information was sparse yet critical, offering rudimentary instructions on fighting and the basics of magic power and demonic energy manipulation. The guide also offered the art of improvisation—turning sharp rocks, shattered bones, or even fallen branches into weapons of desperation.
Basic foraging knowledge was also included, with tips for stalking prey.
Social dynamics seeped into his awareness, less taught and more instinctively known. The pecking order among demons was absolute, a structure bound by strength and authority.
There was also a warning echoing at the end of it all: practice or perish. This 'Survival Guide', no matter how deeply ingrained, could be dulled, forgotten if left unused.
Xaren couldn't help but feel the guide's dry, emotionless tone in the back of his mind, as though it had been left by some cold overseer with no personal investment in their survival.
'That's probably the case.'
As he mentally perused the Survival Guide, he came across something else he found crucial—the key element that made up more than half of the information now etched into his mind, and the primary reason he was able to comprehend it all.
"Languages."
Hundreds of them. Each demon here had different languages imprinted into them, and Xaren didn't need to think too much to guess the reason.
'Let's say this place is where the demons mass produces soldiers which they use to conquer worlds, then these languages are so those demons can communicate with the natives of those worlds, or demons from other worlds who might have different languages.'
From his perspective, Xaren would say that he had an intermediate-level understanding of each language in his head. He was basing this off the language of his home world which he had grown up speaking, and was also part of the languages imprinted just now.
'Did the demons win the war? I was sent off-world when things were at a stalemate.'
Sighing softly, Xaren looked up at the sky above him and he wondered what kind of world this hatching ground was on.
'Is this perhaps the Infernal Dimension?'
Angels, Demons, Humans, gods, Elves, Dragons, Dwarves, Beastmen, Giants, Spirits—these races were the top dogs in the Universe.
Aside from humans who saturated the Main Dimensional Plane, most hailed from different Dimensional Planes, each hosting an array of worlds beyond imagination.
The demon race was a race on the negative side of the polarity spectrum of the Universe, inherently possessing strong bodies and their signature negative energy—Demonic Energy.
The Dimension from which the demons came was called the Infernal Dimension.
But it was more commonly referred to as Hell or the Abyss.
A never-ending dimension of hellish worlds, with exponentially increasing demonic energy and miasma concentration the deeper one went into the abyss—or so Xaren was told.
The strengths of the demons found within the Abyss also increased the deeper one went.
With this sight around him, crimson skies and multicoloured moons above, as well as a sulphurous beach, Xaren felt this was probably the Abyss.
"Abyss…huh?"
His voice was still hoarse as he spoke, but it was much easier to talk now.
Xaren looked down on his hands, at his black claw-like nails and sighed softly.
Was he attached to being a human? Xaren couldn't say. He'd seen the beauty and ugliness of all the races during the war and had come to understand that in judging a person, race didn't matter much.
But many did not have this understanding.
'Oh well, thinking about this now is hardly a priority.'
Xaren tried to get himself to his feet once more as that thought crossed his mind. His main priority now was to adapt.
He didn't know why, but he had become a demon, and that could not be changed. In this unknown environment and unknown world, he had to adapt to his transformation.
Thinking the way he did as a human might lead to him dying without knowing how if he wasn't careful.
'You don't truly appreciate the gift of life until you've tasted death.'
Regardless of whether it was luck or fate, the fact remained: he was alive.
The most important thing was for him to treasure this life. Survival was the main goal.
At their core, most living beings would abandon their 'morals' and 'principles' if survival demanded it. Xaren simply aimed to bring that reality to the forefront of his own existence.
Xaren got to his feet and steadied himself, before moving over to the cocoon he fell out of and sitting back down inside it.
His first agenda on his survival path was to know what cards he had.
To do that, he needed to check his Status board.
There existed something called the 'Devour Class System', and it encompassed the entirety of the Universe.
By claiming an opponent's life, one takes a portion of their Soul Energy, Regular Energy, Life force, future potential (if any) and a few other Existential Records that are all combined into 'Experience' (EXP), increasing their own Level.
There were two key metrics within the system, the numerical Level and the Existence Level, also called the Existence Realm.
Levelling speed/efficiency was influenced by a variety of factors, from one's innate talent to certain skills and titles that could either boost the efficiency or even reduce it.
Each person had a Status Board that showed their power and existential records which have been computed in the form of stat values.
And that was precisely what Xaren wanted to check now.
|Name- Xaren Ascelin
Race- High-Demon
Gender- Male
Age- 10
Level- 50
Existence Level- Silver (Intermediate)
Titles- Unranked Newborn Demon, Irregular.
Class- None
Health– D-
Energy- D+
Strength– D-
Agility– E+
Durability- E+
Intelligence- D-
Condition- Normal.
Magic Tiers- Fire Tier 0, Darkness Tier 0, Gravity Tier 0, Space Tier 0.
Skills- Language Comprehension, Energy Control, Energy Blast, Swordsmanship (P), Gravity Magic (T), Gravity Sphere, Tenacity.
Unique Skills- Child of Gravity. |
Xaren began reading the status from top to bottom. His true name flashed for a moment, before disappearing, being replaced with just 'Xaren Ascelin'.
Personally, he preferred it to be just 'Xaren'.
Next, his race was the first thing that surprised him. He didn't have extensive knowledge about other races' special characteristics, but he knew what High-Demons were.
In his previous life, he was a normal breed of Human, not High-Human, Arch Human, or even the legendary Elder-Breed Human.
But it seems his starter pack in this life was better than the last one. A 'High-Demon' was just like a 'High-Elf', a superior breed of demon.
Everything about them was higher, from their stat multipliers to their energy quality. For Xaren, energy quality was something very important.
He had average quality before, but with sheer hard work, he managed to make it 'above average', increasing his consumption efficiency and damage.
His Gender was pretty obvious; with the little guy between his legs, it'd be weirder if anything else showed up there.
'It's a bit chilly without trousers though…'
Such a thought crossed his mind as he moved on to the age tab.
'10? But I just came out of the Incubati-!'
His thoughts halted abruptly as the information imprinted in his mind resurfaced—an explanation that demons here were either laid as eggs or live birthed, then placed into these incubation cocoons and sent to this place.
Xaren didn't know his full appearance yet, but judging from the size and proportion of his limbs and torso, he was certainly not the size of a typical ten-year-old. He pondered over the information he had, connecting the dots.
'As far as I know, most demons age slower than humans since they have longer base lifespans.'
A realization began to dawn on him.
'Could it be that these incubation cocoons are meant to accelerate their growth?'