Rise and shine, good morning!

Ugh, it feels like it's been ages, yet the sun is barely starting to rise.

It's still dawn though… I probably came out too early.

Well… forget that ever happened, okay?

Take two!

Rise and shine, good moorniiing!

…Ugh, it feels like it’s been ages, but at least the sun is up.

It was ages though, since dungeon-time works differently. I tried customising how time works, but the fastest I can set it to is half of real-world time, meaning the three hours just then took six hours for me.

It also seems like the [Heroes] have awoken as well, since they’re making breakfast and all.

Should they really be relaxing like this when they know a war will brew up within five months time?

And, honestly – humanities ‘greatest’ weapons are… weak.

Anyone below Doug would be guaranteed to lose against them, and even Doug would barely scrape a victory, but I’m sure I could win, no-sweat. Same goes for the stronger [Demon Lords] – Lin and Lolopop.

From the sound of it, humanity's real ‘greatest’ weapons are probably the court mages, since they all break Mithril.

I haven’t met any in person, but the strongest court mage – Keqak, could probably give even Lin a run for his money.

Whew, sure am glad I’m not involved in this large-scale conflict.

I am but an elf – secluded, mingling with other races only when necessary.

No, but seriously, I’m surprised none of the other humanoid races have declared allegiance.

Based on my experience learning about the world war some millenia ago, there should be at least some alliances formed, but the beast-folk, elves and dwarves are all unusually quiet.

Do they hate both humans and demons?

According to {Omniscience}, these dudes were totally the native inhabitants before two rogue gods came in and started a war, smack-bang between the three nations.

I guess there's no an enemy's enemy is a friend thing going on, since both humans and demons are enemies or whatever.

While I begin waffling about controversial statements that would totally get government-censored, I see Ray and Melony walk outdoors towards the stadium, followed by Rapheal and Matthew.

They seem to be putting up countermeasures to make sure nothing crazy happens – stuff like stone pillars and air barriers.

Ahaha! See?

I can already tell this will be heaps more interesting to watch than some slimes wobble on top of each other!

The tournament – or whatever they’re doing starts off with a bang, both literally and metaphorically.

Melony starts off with an ace, summoning a blazing phoenix from the earth. I don’t get why she’s being so cautious about that wimpy unlevelled guy though.

The phoenix spews molten pellets of rock at Ray, and I expect him to get vaporised, but – Whoa!

He does some badass move, and the wind pressure from his sword slice disintergrates the flames, even going as far as slicing the boulders in two.

I thought this guy was wimpy, so why is he so strong?

I quickly [Appraise] him, and I instantly understand why.

[Second Wind] plus [Acceptance] combo just looks too broken! Maybe that’s why he isn’t levelled up?

The only point of XP grinding and killing a bunch of stuff is to level up, but at that calibre of strength, I guess there's no need to bulk or whatever.

The phoenix releases another hellfile of blazing bullets at him, but he simply counters them by slashing again.

Seriously, pressurised air attacks are so unfair! It isn’t even [Wind Magic], just the pure force of the blow.

I mean, yeah, I can do better, but seeing a level one pull it off gets me sort of pissed.

This is ‘natural talent’ versus ‘hard work’ in a nutshell!

But then, the phoenix curls up and hurls itself at Ray.

Is this some new strat since fire bombs didn’t work?

Instead of retreating, Ray turns to face the flame phoenix.

This is about to get interesting!

Ray dashes onto the phoenix, and seems to activate a second boost. Dang. Including armour, his stats are higher than mine now.

He runs around the phoenix, and jumps off it, as the phoenix crumbles behind him.

Dang, that was cool!

I could still do better.

Huh. Now, Ray goes charging towards Melony. Right when his attack is about to land, Melony disappears from sight.

Ray looks around confused.

Hey –I think I recognise that strategy! Didn’t the moles use [Earth Manipulation] to do the exact same thing?

Digging underground is dirty.

Oh well.

Yada yada yada, Melony makes some high-temperature homing fireballs, takes control of the battlefield, blah blah blah.

I stifle a yawn – things are starting to get boring now.

I could do better.

What? Who’s salty that they had to work hard to get strong while some other people don’t?

How is that oddly specific?

I mean, I’m basically just watching Ray get absolutely owned by Melony. Not very interesting. Not at all.

Well, I was just about to doze off when I noticed a huge jump in Rays stats…

…

“Wait, Wha-?”

His stats suddenly jumped all the way to the system limit – 9,999!

Shit, [Acceptance] is overpowered. With his new stupidly high base stats, Ray goes on an absolute rampage

Well, I thought he did, but he went out of control and stepped out of bounds.

Aw man, what an anticlimactic let-down.!

I’ll still take it as a win though – despite not controlling himself, seeing the system cap sure is something else.

I mean, that single step ruined the entire battlefield.

That was out of the world, even for my standards! If he were fighting anyone else but I’m sure Ray would’ve won!

Why am I still so confident about not losing to him?

Easy.

A simple, annoying, yet genius strategy: waiting it out.

[Acceptance] only lasts ten minutes, right? So I can just hop into my dungeon, wait it out, and come back to beat Ray.

Yeah – only because it’s a good matchup for me, will I be able to win. That’s the scale of power we’re talking about right now.

In those ten boosted minutes, Lin would probably lose to be honest. That is, if Ray learns to control that unbalanced skill.

He still acts like a baby fumbling around - no mastery at all.

That said, the meeting is tomorrow, so I’d better get my ransom speech ready. As the four [Heroes] head into the mansion, I also return to my dungeon, procrastinating on what to say.

In the end, all I manage to think of is something along the lines of “I know you want Jinda back”.

Time wasted?

I think not.

…I’m bored again

After spectating the battle in secret, I went to check up on Harlew again. This time, she was oddly submissive, and didn’t attack me when I opened the steel doors.

See? Oppression makes the best suppression!

So yeah, the Harlew pet raising sim is going along pretty nicely, although she also got the titles [Ally Slayer] and [Monster Slayer] - an upgrade from [Ally Hunter] and [Monster Hunter].

Though, she seems to be inwardly hating me even more.

She’s trying to suppress it though, and act nice. Maybe it’s a side effect of her heightened mana?

I didn’t realise until {Omniscience} told me, but apparently stats also have secondary, more day-to-day effects. Basically, a quick summary would be something along the lines of:

Health – Increases vitality and life expectancy

Damage – Increases body physique, boosts immunity to disease

Defence – Increases natural healing and tolerance to pain

Mana – Increases intelligence and mental processing speeds

Speed – Heightened awareness

Each stat point doesn’t give a lot, but rack them up, and it’ll make a big difference. With mana being my highest raw stat, does that totally mean I’m a genius?

Mana increases IQ, right?

Oh right. For defence, ‘tolerance to pain’ differs from [Pain Resistance] in one major way.

With pain tolerance, you still feel pain – it’s more like you can push past that pain and continue doing something. You still feel the pain though, so it's similar to grit.

However, [Pain Resistance] is essentially the opposite – it negates some of the pain felt by the body, but any pain that breaks through gets processed and hinders your ability to do work.

I’ve got a relatively high defence stat, and I’ve also got a relatively high levelled [Pain Resistance], so I sort of get a double buffer.

It also means I’ll live for pretty long as well, since my health is also pretty high.

Outliving everyone I know does seem sad, but right now I’m living in the present, not the future!

I do what I want to do!

Laws? What are those?

Rules? Foreign concept.

And, being the lawless citizen I am, I abuse the slime spawner a bit more, until the third day finally calls.

----------------------------------------

Alright, todays the bargain with hostage day!

Designating the flowerbed as my drop-off location, I exit my dungeon, taking a single, humble step.

As I lean out, I notice Lin already there, looking at me in anticipation.

Yeesh, this guy really knows everything, he’s got an entire tea-table set up, with fancy china tea cups and stuff like that.

Alongside him, sits Lolopop, Kath and Doug.

He gestures at a slightly extended chair, as if mentioning for me to sit down.

Promptly, I pull the seat out, sitting down.

Why are these guys acting like I actually belong here?

We sit around in momentary silence – the only sound being the occasional sip of tea.

Er, this sure is awkward, isn’t it?

Quickly, I [Appraise] the tea to make sure it isn’t poisoned or anything, although I don’t think Lin would be stupid enough to pull a trick like that.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

As expected, the tea is clean and pure. Maybe a bit too clean and pure – this tea apparently uses some super rare, posho and luxury tea leaves.

It even has many health benefits such as being a natural antibiotic and stuff.

Um… am I really allowed to drink this?

A barrel of this tea would cost a copper coin! And these guys – especially the shameless Lolopop are chugging away!

…Actually, I think Lolopop is going a bit overboard. She’s drinking straight from a barrel like it’s alcohol or something!

Forget taking swigs, this is on a whole nother level!

“…”

Did she just go to sleep?

Is Lin the only normal one here??

Doug has anger issues, Kath is an exhibitionist, and Lolopop is… shameless.

As we silently stare at each other for a while, Lin pokes Lolopop at the ribs, and she wakes up with a startle.

“Now…” begins Lin, “shall we discuss and get to business?”

“Sure, why not,” I half-heartedly reply. I’m trying to seem uninterested so they won’t push their negotiating luck, but it's really hard to keep a straight face under the pressure! “As I’m sure you know, I have Pork- I have Jinda held hostage. However, I am willing to hand him in – only with one condition.”

No, Rena, keep your cool! Don’t sweat it!

“Then,” questions Lin, as he furrows his brows, “what is this condition you’re attempting to set?”

“I wish for you to free the women P- Jinda had personally hand-picked.”

I can’t just full on say Harwel – if they know who I’m after, they can easily turn the tides of this momentary standstill in their favour!

“All the women, or Harwel?” questions Lin, pressing me for more answers.

“…”

How does this guy know? This is more of an interrogation at this rate…

Lin’s mouth slowly curls upwards. “To answer your question, I have eyes. Many, many eyes.”

Is this guy seriously predicting my train of thought? And, he dropped another massive bombshell – this guy has been keeping tabs on me!

He doesn’t give Harwel’s stalker vibes, but it’s still sort of freaky. Can’t let it show, though.

“Seems you noticed the hints I left for you…” I nonchalantly respond, attempting to wave it off.

Lin seems to eye me. “Really, now?”

“Yeah.”

Oops. Was that ‘yeah’ a bit too fast? Well, point said – this guy already knows my true intentions, so I don’t see any point hiding under a façade.

My shoulders slump, and I release the air I subconsciously held back in. “Well? Do you accept the exchange? A [Demon Lord] is worth far more than some random girl picked off a destroyed town. Besides, -”

However, I get cut off halfway through my epic, moving speech that would have encapsulated their hearts…

Lin holds his finger in the air, waiting for silence, before continuing. “Jinda is expendable. We have unanimously agreed for you to offer something else.”

Damn, that was cold. Is Porky really just some expandable pawn? Help me out, {Omniscience}!

Lie or no lie?

So it isn’t a bluff?

“What more can I offer?” I inquire, curious about what these guys want from me.

“Well, Mistress Greed, to put it bluntly, we want you to join the [Demon Lords]” interrupts Doug as he plants a foot on the desk, only to get it furtively knocked down by Lin.

“Could you not call me Mistress Greed? I have not accepted these terms yet.” I respond almost automatically.

On the inside though?

Seriously, what?

Even I wasn’t expecting an offer like that! Me?

An official [DemonLord]?

I wouldn’t even dream. Besides, I don’t want to be a [Demon Lord]! I have military planning, tax filing and boring duke-ey stuff like that!

I mean, just look at Doug –

…Wait…

Lin does all the hard work, right? So if I accept these terms, I get free social credit, wealth and fame – and I can shove all the hard work onto Lin!

Even better, people recognised by me will have direct protection from the [Demon Lords]!

That means Harwel will be safe, as well as Yache and the guys. If I manage to relocate them, that is…

I mean, with newfound authority, I can totally exempt them from war, right?

Like admin powers or something…

Even if he goes to war, Yache can easily defend himself, and, well…

Harwel would get my divine protection or something.

Hold up, hold up. This offer… it’s much better than I thought. It's basically a win-win, right?

Actually, more like a win-win-win.

One win for them, a triple win for me!

I get fame, which I’m sure everyone wants, people I know get instant protection, and I can actually farm a decent amount of stats by fighting in a war!

I can’t let that excitement show though! I don’t want Lin thinking he’s got an upper hand over me.

Attempting to push the smile away and hide the glitter in my eyes, I (try to) coldly respond. Yet, as soon as I open my mouth to speak, Lin coincidently speaks up at the exact same time.

“Well?” he inquired, sipping another cup of tea, “do you accept it or not? Personally, I see no downsides.”

He beat me to the punch!

Alright… that’s fine… I can still play some cards.

“True. You leave me no option to accept then.”

There. I still managed to look slightly bored and uninterested. I even go as far as fake-stifling a yawn.

Am I going overboard? Nah.

Lin gives a nod. He hands me a sheet of paper – maybe a contract?

“Before we make it official, I would like to see your power for myself.”

“Huh?”

I barely dodge as an upturned hand nicks my cheek, hot blood trickling down.

Quickly, I kick my chair away, as I hop backwards, a foot flying past my face.

“Tch.” murmurs Lin.

What is this guy doing?

I barely react in time, dodging a bullet of… pure mana coming my way?

I duck down in an attempt to avoid it, but the bullet seems to flash, before reappearing right in front of me.

A searing pain scales my forehead,as the bullet sinks into my skull.

Shit. What good is future sight if I can’t react fast enough?

I quickly scan the room in an attempt to find Lin, but I can’t see him anywhere.

{Omniscience} flashes a warning. However, the predicted outcome already comes true.

I feel a palm smash into my jaw, and my entire body stumbles backwards as I lose grip on my bearings.

Lin shoots another magic bullet at me.

If I can’t dodge, the best I can manage is to confront.

I shoot a black bullet of my own, and the two orbs of energy clash together – none gaining an advantage over the other.

Lin nods his head in approvement.

Could it be… that he’s only testing me?

As I stare at Lin, I see a discrepancy in the onion-skin effect or foresight.

Which can only mean one thing.

I dash into my shadow right before a fistful of pure mana engulfs the area I was standing in before.

Is he trying to kill me?

Alright, {Omniscience}, help me out a bit more here.

…Complete.>

Suddenly, my thoughts become far clearer. All the information that was jumbled into my head seems to coalesce, and my consciousness turns into a single, interwoven thread.

I leap out of my shadow, giving my knuckles a light crack.

“Finally getting serious now, are we?” asks Lin, in an almost mocking tone.

However, I only give a single, decisive response.

“Yeah.”

Lin breaks into a wide grin, visibly pleased – perhaps his first genuine emotion I’ve seen.

“Woohoo, Lord Pride! Beat the crap outta her!” cheers Doug as he claps in the sidelines.

“Shut up, you idiot! Don’t you see they’re in the middle of something?” teases Katherine.

“Huh? You want a piece of me?”

“You asked for it, you fool…”

Lin, seeing the cool battle atmosphere ruined, returns his gaze to me.

“Perhaps we should switch to an alternate plane? I prefer my flowerbed to remain intact.”

I give a light nod of approval.

And so, Lin transports us to some huge coliseum or whatever.

I get a few glances from the maids or something, but I heed no mind.

As we enter the massive coliseum, Lin faces me once again…

“Now,” he practically demands, “shall we properly get started?”

“Yeah.”

I foresee a direct, frontal attack.

Almost instantly, I coat my daggers in mana, and parry a chop, before somersaulting backwards, dodging a roundhouse kick.

Taking initiative, I warp behind Lin, firing off a black bullet followed by lightning fast strikes at his back.

“…Wha?”

Lin blocks my magic bullet with one of his own,and latches onto my wrists mid-strike.

I try warping away, but Lin seems to inhibit my magic runs by pouring mana of his own into it, causing the magic circles to overflow and cancel.

Trying to break free, I kick at him, but Lin hurls me over his shoulders, smashing me onto the ground.

Still in a daze, I fail to dodge an elbow coming my way.

It slams onto my nose, and I feel my blood pool out like a torrent.

Why did that hurt so much?

With my defence, it shouldn’t have done that much damage!

… or that the effect of {Egocentric}.

No, not now. I don’t have the time to check.

I leap up, vaulting sideways as a whirlwind bursts from the ground, created from pure air pressure.

This isn’t good… I can’t throw anything at him, and whatever Lin throws at me just gets sent flying back.

I can’t win with a frontal confrontation. Our magic is evenly matched.

But he has higher stats than me.

…

I pour some mana into [Empowerment] – enough that I outclass Lin’s raw stats.

We both have [Melee Lv10], but his execution and use of it is far superior to mine. Same goes for magic – I certainly have more variety, but they lack the finesse.

Lin does a double-flip, lunging towards me as a storm of sand ensues.

I get ready to block him, but flinch in pain as I feel my wrists twinge.

Moments later, my hands become numb, and the grip on my daggers begin to loosen.

…How am I supposed to dodge this invisible magic?

In slow motion, I see Lin's fist come flying towards me. {Omniscience} warns that his knuckles are covered with a thick layer of ‘pure’ mana; whatever that is.

I rapidly unlock the reins on [Stockpile], as I feel the overheal engulf my hands, restoring them to their original state.

Quickly, I look up to see how much time I have left.

Shit.

Lin’s about ten centimetres away from me. Where his outstretched hand is, I notice the surrounding air fizz and crackle, as if unable to withstand the sheer density of magic.

The fist comes flying even closer, and…

Claaangg!!

I barely manage to bring my hand up in time, as I block the shot – gritting my teeth in pain as I struggle to keep my footing.

Alright, this is my one chance!

In the midst of battle, I swap myself out with a shadow clone, and warp behind lLin.

Okay, here goes nothing!

I even scream out loud – something stupid, impractical, and only seen in shonen manga.

“Diiieeee!!!!”

I release the chains on the spell.

A visceral darkness, vanta-black all the way round, erupts out of the magic circle.

The tiny shot – a condensation of all my mana – hurtles itself towards Lin, as a small sonic boom echoes afterhand, ripping past the very air itself.

This void eats everything . It is the consumer of darkness, and –

“Huh?”

Lin creates a shield composed of undiluted mana. He seems to struggle a bit, but he manages to block my spell – my last ditch shot. The strongest weapon in my arsenal.

I hopelessly watch as both attacks skid together, the shield slowly whittling down my shot.

It can’t end like this.

Even if it’s a mock battle, I refuse to lose such a one-sided battle.

Boom.

The perfect sphere of void collapses on itself, and the compressed energy leaks out, igniting a massive explosion as tiny shards of abyss whizz everywhere.

The pressure of the attack overwhelms Lin’s shield, and he looks rather reprised as fragments pierce through.

However, the surprise only lasts a mere seconds, as he then coats himself in another multi-layered magical shield, negating every prick – except for one, which phases through, aimed right at his lobes.

That’s right – the explosion was just a guise, one used to hide another deadly attack.

As the bullet shatters multiple barriers, Lin quickly swivels his head to the right, and the bullet only leaves a faint mark on his cheek.

Tiny, inconsequential droplets of blood ooze out.

Lin chaps his hands, and begins applauding.

“Most impressive! Most impressive indeed! Welcome aboard, Mistress Greed.”

“Approved.”

Lin seals the blood with a stamp, before rolling up the ominous looking contract. It might look like I just sold my soul away, but the contract was really nothing but a formality.

In reality, all it said was ‘blah blah blah, wanna be [Demon Lord] best buddies?, yap, yap, yap.’

Nothing important to write home about – I guess it's nothing but tradition at this point.

Well, Lin explains a bunch of stuff, and how I’ll get a ceremony and all in a week, but right now, I couldn’t care less.

Sure, it’s probably really important, since it'll be a nationwide thing, but it just goes in one ear and slips out the other.

I try looking like I’m interested in paying attention, but I’m sure I’m being rather fidgety.

Finally, Lin stops with the procedures stuff – not that it mattered to me since Lin was doing all the paperwork on my behalf.

Poor guy. Now he’s managing three lands worth of administration – his, mine, and Doug’s!

Lin must really work himself to the bone. I’d probably make a run for it as soon as I could and take a nap if I saw a stack of files that big.

Yeah. He just casually popped out a dictionary's worth of paperwork from his inventory.

…Sure am glad it's not for me to do.

Besides, “Where is Harwel?”

Lin stops the practised signage, and looks up at me for a brief moment, before starting. “Ah, right. We had her escorted to my manor yesterday. Ask one of the maids for directions.”

And with that, he goes back to scribbling stuff.

That went easier than expected – if these guys are so lax about recruiting [Demon Lords], I’d be worried for the demon populace as a whole.

Except, if I do say so myself, I sure am exceptional!

According to Lin, “What an entertaining spar. Even Lolopop does not bring this much trouble”

Which seems interesting, since according to the {Omniscience} battle sims, Lolopop is stronger than me.

Turns out, Lin just hard counters Lolopop.

I’ll drop down what both their sin based skills do so you have a decent picture. Of what I mean.

First off, Lin’s stupidly unfair skill: {Egocentric}!

<{Egocentric} (passive) – Pierces through (ignores) any defensive countermeasures. Also unlock the ‘critical’ and ‘fatal’ hit. Critical hits do x1.5 damage, and have a 70% chance of landing, whilst Fatal hits do x2 damage and have a 20% chance of landing.>

Also, [Appraisal] scouted out a hidden effect, similar to the hidden buff [Absorption] gave me. Basically, all debuffs are reversed.

Which is actually unfair.

I mean, if Lin somehow got ahold of Ray’s [Acceptance], he could essentially get a +250% stat boost while ALSO recovering 50% of his health, mana and stamina!

Nerf Lin please.

Apparently, Lin does have a similar strat though. His skill pool is pretty similar to mine – Lin also has [Empowerment].

He can buff stats while replenishing energy.

So if Lin went all out, he could reach 9,999 with no sweat, and heal up at the same time.

…

I sure am glad I didn’t make enemies out of the [Demon Lords]. Especially with that absolute powerhouse.

Competent powerhouse to the boot.

And, here is Lolopop’s ascended skill, {Indolent}.

<{Indolent} (passive) – Boosts mana and health regeneration by tenfold. Also severely reduces both mana and stamina consumption. When idle, all damage is reduced by 70%>

Another skill that totally topples the power balance.

Basically, Lolopop’s fighting style is: castle.

She stats in one place, fires off magic like crazy, and any damage dealt to her is recovered pretty fast.

Also, the mana consumption is extremely reduced.

My inferior version of {Indolent} – that is, [Reduced Consumption] reduces mana consumption by 30%.

Indolent in the flesh? 70% mana reduction.

I know right, what?

The only reason Lin so effortlessly eats Lolopop is because {Egocentric} pierces through defence. Any defensive measure. ANY.

Meaning, the 70% damage reduction gets ignored completely. And what good is a tank that can’t tank?

I’ve also got a pretty high damage output, since [Underdog] gives me a x5 damage boost, but it reaches the system limit of 9,999.

However, that 9,999 gets reduced to a 3,000, since I do raw damage – no phasing armour or whatever.

I can still beat Lolopop if I out damage her healing speed though.

Lin though.

Geez, don’t even get me started. Piercing defence is TOO strong!

Let's say person X does 9,999 damage, right?

I still have defence, so it won’t be life threatening – I can tank a few shots.

But with {Egocentric}, all of that becomes useless!

If this guy turned his back and went down the path of darkness, a shit ton of chaos would have ensued.