Mind Demon's Path of Domination

Mark looked at his mission rewards—an entrance back to the Demon World, a Portal Key, and a Seal of Destiny. The Seal, especially, made him inwardly excited.

It would allow him to absorb a new demonic trick, and maybe, just maybe, he could copy it using Alchemic Shapeshifting to produce more of it.

====

[Mission 1: Kill 100 Silver Savages.]

[Killed: 139/100]

[Rewards:

Entry back into the Demon World. (Claim)]

[Mission 2: Kill 10 Golden Savages.]

[Killed: 100/10]

[Rewards:

Portal Key. (Claim)]

[Mission 3: Kill 100 Golden Savages.]

[Killed: 100/100]

[Rewards:

Seal of Destiny. (Claim)]

====

For now, he didn't claim the entry back and chose to claim the Portal Key and Seal of Destiny instead. The moment he clicked the button for "claim" in his mind, he felt a contract within his World Space burn into action.

When he left the Demon World and entered the Savage World, this contract had been planted on him by the Will of the Demon World. Unlike other simpler contracts, it couldn't be hoodwinked by the connection of his and Reol'ran's combined soul.

In fact, that contract evading trick probably wouldn't work against truly powerful people. Since even the Armor, in its weakened form, had noticed Reol'ran's soul fused with his own.

And now, he had completed the requirements mentioned in the contract and could claim the rewards planted within the contract itself. It was a double layered mechanism. The rewards are within the contract itself from the very start, but when he completes the mission, he could take it out.

Truly, the World Wills were profound existences.

The pieces of the burned contract transformed into a weird energy and Mark followed the energy with his Soul Sense. It was elusive and awe-inspiring to the senses.

His attention, along with Reol'ran's, grew intensely focused as they analyzed the process.

The awe inspiring energy floated out of his World Space and coagulated around his palm. Then, it suddenly took shape—one, a tattoo on the back of his hand, and the other, a physical key that looked ancient and weathered.

A Seal of Destiny and a Portal Key to an Unconquered World.

Mark looked at the tattoo on the back of his hand first. That was the Seal of Destiny, looking like a plain simple tattoo of archaic symbols. Yet, for all its plain appearance, it could help him steal a part of another person's destiny for himself.

"Ran, what do you think?" he asked. "I can't make heads or tails on how to copy that energy using Alchemic Shapeshifting. The Seal also feels like a puzzle that I can't wrap my head around. On the other hand, the Portal Key feels too easy to copy."

Reol'ran hummed, her own brows knitted in a tight frown. "You should try to copy the Key. Let's see what happens, first." Then, she asked another important question: "Anyway, are you not leaving this world? What is your decision?"

Mark looked at his women—Dona and Yuri—and then back at the Portal Key. Indeed, he had to do some things before he left this world.

For one, he had to try using the Golden Savage corpses in his World Space to transform Yuri and Dona into savages. And for the other…

When he and Yuri had ended their session in bed, she had asked his help in finding some materials she needed to build a lab in his World Space. He had to get them for her.

Only after doing both of that—try turning Yuri and Dona into Savages using the Savage Heart Blood in his hand, and finding material for Yuri—could he leave.

It wasn't hard or time-consuming to do both.

He explained that to Reol'ran.

As he was thinking, his eyes unconsciously scanned the Portal Key in his hand.

From some whispered mouths, he had heard that a Portal Key that one wins from a mission would lead them to a world without any demons. He hoped that the World this portal key leads to wouldn't have any—as that would make things easier for him.

But what kind of World did it lead to in the first place?

===

[Portal Key to an Unconquered World]

[World of Star Fever]

[Dominant Race: Star Monkey]

[Highest Powers in the World of Star Fever: Tier 2]

[Warning: You cannot return from that world before completing the Mission you will be given upon entering the Portal.]

[Warning: This is a World on the cusp of evolving into gaining Tier 3 fighters.]

===

Mark's heart skipped slightly when he saw the second warning. He was not a normal demon going on an otherworldly hunt, he was a demon ready to face the Suffering going on an otherworldly hunt.

And for the first Suffering, the Suffering of Man, someone was coming to kill him. That someone would be a Tier 2 creature if he was in a World with Tier 2 as the limit, but what if the limit of the World was Tier 3 or more?

Then, his enemy would be stronger!

And now, in this critical time, he had gotten a Portal Key like this. Was this the act of the River of Destiny? Was it leading him towards that World?

What if, right as he is in there, he gets trapped due to the mission the Demon World gives and the Star Fever World evolves to the Tier 3 limit?

Was this influenced by the Suffering, or was he thinking too much into things?

Mark felt a drop of sweat appear on his forehead. Then, he simply stashed the Portal Key inside his World Space for now—he didn't even try to copy it.

"I say it's very ominous," he said, and all three women listened. "I am betting now. If I try to copy it, the copy or the original will suddenly explode and will absorb me into that world, or worse, it will just kill us. So, it's better not to do risky experiments for now."

It was a wild guess, a bit paranoid even, but one shouldn't give their enemy chances. For now, even Reol'ran agreed with it.

After the First Suffering is over, copying the Portal Keys to use as currency in the Demon World might help him gain an advantage in the Second Suffering.

But copying it now, there was a chance of something going terribly wrong—Mark's guess that he might end up being pulled into that World was very valid. He had just guessed it wildly, but for Reol'ran, she knew how a Portal Key functioned—somewhat—and his words sounded like a true possibility.

Then, Mark looked at the Seal of Destiny embedded in his palm. As Yuri and Dona watched in slight horror, he cleanly sliced off his wrist. He did cringe in pain but right after, he frowned.

The tattoo of the Seal was still on the severed hand's back, but his System said that the Seal was still in his possession. Yes, the tattoo merely represented the power of the Seal of Destiny, it wasn't the true thing.

"Then where is the true Seal of Destiny hidden in my body?"

If it wasn't the tattoo, where was its origin?

Even Demonic Tricks had an origin. They came from the gems inside his World Space. What about these things called the Seal of Destiny?

Confused, he sat down and began searching his own body. He also healed his hand—it was hurting too much. Such pain distracts the mind.

Dona and Yuri also helped him look when he explained.

"If we had an X-ray machine, it might help?" Yuri asked.

Mark didn't know.

Reol'ran roamed around his World Space. She looked around under the water, in the sky, and above islands. Finally, she reached the Violet Mirror.

Just beside it, she could sense a seal. Mark sensed it at her words, too. It was hidden, it almost seemed invisible. Unless he looked at it, he couldn't sense it well. Yet, now, he had found it.

"What an intriguing thing," Reol'ran's Will said, floating beside the Seal.

Mark's soul stared at the Seal with a strange fascination too. It looked like a pattern, a word, a letter, or just a strange seal all at the same time. And it also seemed like colorful smoke.

Yet, it didn't seem like something he could clone with Alchemic Shapeshifting.

"It has a strangely similar feel to that awe-inspiring energy, as if it was made out of that energy itself," he said.

Reol'ran nodded. Then, their senses focused on the pieces of an ancient Armor. It was stored safely, and it was supposed to help Mark upgrade his Trait—Mask of the Savage to something better. He had to do that, too.

"Do you know how to do that?" he asked.

Reol'ran bit her neatly trimmed nails. "Trait upgradation is more like a myth to me. I had heard of it in the legends of heroes and myths, but have never really experienced such a thing for myself. But I know that each Trait worked differently, so it should have its own conditions."

Mark sighed. He was in a position of having a lot of wealth in his backyard but not being able to use it. It was like owning a banquet but starving at the feast.

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