"You know kid, your level of hatred and anger is pretty damn impressive. I already knew you were going to be a good seedling the first time I saw you, but a high-quality core on your first attempt is truly incredible." A nasally, sarcastic voice said in a dramatic tone.

Lucas could barely stop himself from shaking in fear. He had awoken back in the cave, strapped to a metal table, a gag placed in his mouth. The gremlin he had seen in the cave was walking evilly around him. He wanted to scream out in fear and or confusion but nothing came out.

He tried struggling against the bonds but they were far too strong for him to break.

The demon/gremlin only laughed at the boy's struggles before continuing to monologue, "Stop struggling, I ain't here to hurt ya, kid. I intend to do the opposite, I promise. By the end of our little chat, I'll have set you on the right and noble path. I'm here to help, trust me."

The gremlin-looking entity then approached Lucas and pulled out the gag, before asking, "So, you ready to talk to me and not scream?"

Lucas, realizing it would be pointless to scream, simply nodded.

The demon sighed in relief and said, "Alright, good. The name's Jergras, your one and only guide on your path toward great achievement in demonic cultivation."

Lucas, frightened by the whole situation he seemed to be in, the talk of him being a demon scared him a lot and he said, "I...I'm not a demon though. I'm a human."

The demon face-palmed and said exasperatedly, "I know that dummy. I'm a part of the demon race. You're a human on the path of demonic cultivation. The two things aren't the same thing at all. Don't worry your little head about it."

Lucas, full of hope, asked, "Really?"

The demon smirked before half-crushing the boy's hope, "Well, I can't deny that if you achieve anywhere near a serious level of power in demonic cultivation you'll probably undergo some kind of metamorphosis, but at your minuscule level of power, rest assured you have at least a couple centuries before your humanity goes kaput."

Lucas was going to ask another question, but the demon cut him off with the start of another of the demon's monologues, "You see, demon kind may have been the first race in the multi-verse to utilize our particular method of cultivation, but as we are so generous, we shared our method with the other races through corruptin... I mean, selecting, seedlings with which to share our methods of attaining true power."

The demon then gestured at Lucas and said seriously, "You are one such seedling, though as I said earlier, a quite promising one in comparison to most. And, considerably younger too. You should feel proud of yourself kid."

Lucas absorbed the words of the gremlin but still couldn't get his mind to work properly due to the bone-chilling fear that he felt as he stared at the demon Jergras, so all his words came out as meek whispers, but the demon still heard them anyway.

"Demonic Cultivation? W...What is that?"

The demon face-palmed again before saying, "Look here's a basic summary for you. You kill living things, and those things feed you Qi/life force upon their death, both the Qi and the life force get absorbed by your core, and you get real strong because of it, capiche?"

"S...So the more things I kill... the stronger I get?" Lucas asked, finding that the path of demonic cultivation just sounded like the typical gameplay loop of one of his video games. He felt his nerves from a minute ago dissipate a little as a sense of familiarity returned to him with his thoughts of video games.

"Well, there's a little bit more to it than that. Mainly the whole, avoiding being hunted down by all the big governments of the multiverse, all the more powerful demonic cultivators who almost always feed parasitically off the life force and qi of other demonic cultivators, and avoiding Qi deviation and thus a horrific and excruciating death due to absorbing too much Qi at once. But, you know, other than those 3 three things, you basically got the gist kid." The demon said, knowingly terrifying the boy out of his wits.

"G...Governments will hunt me down?! Qi Deviation?! Can I...Can I not be a demonic cultivator?" Lucas stuttered out, his mind overrun with terror.

The demon shook his head solemnly, before saying, "It's set in stone now kid. You're one of us. Though, don't be such a Debbie Downer all the time. You seem to be forgetting the upsides, like, you know, infinite power! Isn't that awesome?!"

Lucas vigorously shook his head and then asked, "M...Maybe Grandpa will..." However, before he could finish his sentence, the demon cut him off with a cold, powerful, and serious voice.

"That old man is not to know about this. Do you understand me? You can't trust anyone, including your so-called grandpa. That old man you barely know will be the first person to sell you out to the authorities, then guess what'll happen to a little kid like you. You won't even be able to utter the first syllable of the word 'stop' before the Imperial guards or whoever else drives a sword through your chest and throws your torn remains in a burning pit. Keeping this as our little secret is in the best interests of both of us. That understood?"

Lucas recoiled at the voice's words, but before he could even utter a reply, the demon roared in a truly guttural voice that sounded as though it originated from the deepest depths of hell, "IS THAT UNDERSTOOD?!"

Lucas nodded timidly, not knowing what else to do.

The demon's face returned to its usual sarcastic and unserious expression and he said, "Good. Now then? Do you have any questions for me, seedling? Before I have to get out of here. Make 'em good, you only get one shot at this."

Lucas gulped. He had no idea what to ask. And he was pretty sure he had soiled his pants.

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Major Theodora sat, irritated and bored, in her office, petting her spirit beast companion - the electrifying Lightning-Elemental Equinox called Flashy.

Theodora really had not had a good 48 hours. Firstly, the damn natives of Earth send one of her sworn sisters hurtling to the surface and thus her death, causing the Imperium to lose both a mothership and thousands of well-trained crew - a fact that she had been lambasted with since the incident had occurred. If not for her relatives in one of the big sects being a big deal in the multi-verse, she would have definitely been replaced as commanding officer leading the colonization efforts as it related to Earth.

Secondly, to make matters worse, a group of those same ungrateful natives had been semi-successful in pushing back and resisting her colonization forces. Though they were still making some progress in the planet's southern territories, the fact that she was swiftly approaching the 40% remaining population redline put in place by the insufferable Maximus meant that she had been forced to end her preferred strategy of orbital bombardment.

Progress on the colonization front from now on would be slow and hard-won, a reality that she could not be less happy about. Especially as the reports she received from the northern lands both made her blood boil but alternatively also made her blood run cold. Soldiers were going missing in the night, rumours that the planet was home to a group of mystical cannibals were spreading throughout the ranks of her soldiers, lowering morale, and some had even reported there being clear signs of heavy demonic involvement on the planet.

All of these things were causing her a major headache, especially as she couldn't simply eradicate the verminous humans and get to the part she was actually good at - colony building. After all, what was the point in building up a beautiful logistics network or laying the foundations of incredible infrastructure if the damn humans were more than happy to simply blow it all up with nukes?

Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

And, the longer the conflict with the natives lasted, the smaller the gap between her soldiers and the humans in terms of raw power would become. She had to wrap up the conflict quickly but saw no real way to do that whilst still obeying the orders of the general. Furthermore, she had made unambiguous promises to her backers in the Imperial elite that she would hand Earth over to them in a very short time frame, well-integrated and well-established and if she failed to fulfil those promises... she would be toast.

It was while she sat there pondering what to do next, that she received an ominous request for video communication from one of the lieutenants who had been sent to the surface. This was very much against protocol, which meant the lieutenant was either in serious trouble, or it wasn't the lieutenant calling. The latter possibility sent ominous chills down her spine.

Either way, she had a duty to ensure the safety of her men so she accepted the request for video chat. Once she had done so, she was met with a horrific sight. The camera attached to the communication device was pointed at the mutilated, broken, and brutalized corpse of the lieutenant in question, Patrick Marcus.

Then, suddenly, the camera turned around and focused on a human face that was soaked in blood. The human was clearly a man, but his eyes held nothing but sheer and total madness. Theodora recognized the look immediately, it was something common to newly system-integrated populations, system syndrome. It was a disease of the mind that was born out of one's belief in their own infinite potential to become powerful becoming a malignant egoism that always gnawed away at the user's sanity until they were just as destructive and mindless as any other monster created by the system.

The madman began speaking, his voice refusing to be at one pitch or in one tone for long, "You are Major Theodora of the Grand Imperium of Hergalexy, am I correct?"

Theodora had stoically kept her face totally neutral when she had seen the lieutenant's body and she held her nerves the same now, but replied simply, "That is correct. May I know whom it is that I am speaking to and why you killed a good soldier?"

The man shook his head and started clicking his tongue and tut-tutting, before he said back, "Oh don't worry dear, you'll find out who I am soon enough when I FEAST ON YOU AND YOUR MEN'S FLESH TO GROW MY OWN POWER!" Having declared his intention to the enemy commander, the man then cackled wildly for a few seconds before he abruptly ended the call.

Theodora simply sighed, a flesh-eating demonic cultivator - how vile.

She reached upwards and pet her companion's mane before she then brought up the command panel on her spaceship's interface and informed the death master of the lieutenant's untimely death, commanding him to dispense the funds that his family was owed due to his commendable sacrifice for the sake of the Imperium. Admittedly the funds weren't much, but the payout would be enough for them to live comfortably for 3 years at least.

However, she knew that financial restitution to the family wasn't good enough. She swore to the gods that she would avenge her lieutenant's sacrifice. That crazed lunatic would die a miserable and humiliating death, as would those humans who got in the way of her and her men avenging the brutal killing of a good man.

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Arthur’s lack of response to the upstart prompt seemed to irritate the system, and a new system prompt appeared, stunning Arthur even further before it shocked his brain into action, but he was too late to stop what was happening.

Perk: [III] Automatic Cultivation (Lvl:1), has initiated a 20 stat point withdrawal from the user’s stat point total.

Authorise transfer?

YES / NO

(Time remaining before automatic consent is given: 1 second)

Before Arthur could think no, the timer had reached zero and just like that, 20 stat points disappeared from his total. Then, something strange happened. He suddenly felt his whole body start to fill with power, and his mind became so much less burdened by something.

It was an incredible feeling, but Arthur had no idea what had caused it, that was, until he brought up the Spiritual stat point shop and he grimaced and readied himself for another bout of intense pain upon seeing what had caused the sudden feeling of power to wash over him.

[I] Qi Breathing (Lvl:7 -> Lvl:8) | Cost: 1 Spiritual Point

[I] Qi Gathering (Lvl:6 -> Lvl:7) | Cost: 1 Spiritual Point

[I] Qi Condensing (Lvl:6 -> Lvl:7) | Cost: 1 Spiritual Point

[III] Automatic Cultivation (Lvl:2 -> Lvl:3) | Cost: 50 Spiritual Points

Yet, even after Arthur dismissed the stat point shop prompt, no pain flared up from his mind. In fact, if anything, he only felt his mind become more and more sharp and unencumbered. It was as though a huge weight had suddenly been lifted off his mental functionality and he now could do truly complex thinking as effortlessly as he could breathe.

Had the perk upgrading itself reduced its overall maintenance cost on his psyche? He guessed that had to be the only explanation. And, if that were the case, then the system having quite literally robbed him of 20 stat points may not have been such a bad thing after all. However, he would need to always be vigilant from now on to make sure this kind of thing doesn’t happen again. He was in control of the system, not the other way around, and he wanted to make sure things stayed that way.

Sure, he valued his cultivation. But if he wanted to become really strong, he had to ensure his other stats were also up to an adequate standard.

With that thought in mind, he now had to make the decision about how he should allocate his 15 remaining stat points. And, upon rechecking his status again, a path ahead made itself clear to him. He resolved himself to it, and distributed the stat points accordingly, 10 into his physical stat and 5 into his social stat.

He had decided on this distribution first as currently, to his great surprise, his physical stat was the lowest out of any of his stats. Yet, as he was going to be a physical attack-based fighter for the foreseeable future, it was probably wise for him to invest his free stat points into ensuring his attacks did the most damage to his opponents and his body was in the best condition.

Secondly, he had so far neglected his social stat but wanted to make sure that he had it up to par with his other stats, especially as he was planning on spending a lot of time talking to people at the Imperial base. And, if his social stat were higher, he would probably be able to make a better impression, and thus be able to learn vital information about the multiverse as a whole from the soldiers stationed there.

Upon finalizing his decision, he muttered status under his breath and then focused on the two stat points until their individual stat point shops appeared before him as system prompts. He first looked at the physical stat point shop.

[I] Bone Strength (Lvl:6 -> Lvl:7) | Cost: 1 Physical Point

[I] Organ Function (Lvl:5 -> Lvl:6) | Cost: 1 Physical Point

[I] Muscle Strength (Lvl:8 -> Lvl:9) | Cost: 1 Physical Point

NEW: [II] Enhanced Dexterity (Lvl:3) | Cost: 5 Physical Points

NEW: [II] Enhanced Senses (Lvl:5) | Cost: 10 Physical Points

Arthur looked over each option and decided he would stick to upgrading his core physical perks such as Muscle Strength. It wasn’t that he didn’t think that Enhanced Senses or Enhanced Dexterity would be helpful too, but he felt he needed to work on finalizing the basic infrastructure of his body like his bones and muscles before he could get all the fancy stuff to be actually useful.

And so, he decided he would get all of his main physical perks to level 10 before he would purchase any other perks. With that as his aim, he started with the perk that was closest to reaching level 10 already, Muscle Strength, and finalized putting 2 points into the perk and it thus reached the intended level. However, once it was level 10, the system shop refreshed itself, and Arthur looked upon the refreshed shop with intrigue as a new functionality appeared.

[I] Bone Strength (Lvl:6 -> Lvl:7) | Cost: 1 Physical Point

[I] Organ Function (Lvl:5 -> Lvl:6) | Cost: 1 Physical Point

[I] Muscle Strength (Lvl:10) -> [II] Enhanced Muscle Strength (Lvl:1) | Rank-up Cost: 5 Physical Point

NEW: [II] Enhanced Dexterity (Lvl:3) | Cost: 5 Physical Points

NEW: [II] Enhanced Senses (Lvl:5) | Cost: 10 Physical Points

Arthur hadn’t realized that it was possible to rank up a perk by getting it to a certain level, but he guessed he probably could have predicted such a thing had he thought about it for a while.

However, as of right now, he decided not to spend his stat points on ranking up his Muscle Strength perk as, once again, he wanted to get all of his essential foundational perks to level 10 before getting anything too fancy. He didn’t want to rush the basics after all. The basic perks had served as the foundation of his new strength and neglecting upgrading them would only serve to weaken that foundation, and he couldn’t afford that right now.

So, in line with this thinking, he then raised his Bone Strength perk to level 10, and the same system shop refresh occurred, and then the perk disappeared from the shop window. Arthur assumed it was because the perk couldn’t be levelled further until it had been ranked up and he didn’t have the necessary points now to upgrade it.

Arthur sighed, then put the rest of his physical points into the Organ Function perk, bringing it to level 9.

With his physical points now fully spent, he moved his vision over to the social stat points and pondered what to do with them. That was until his attention was snatched away from his prompts by him hearing groans and movement from the body in front of him.

Lucas was waking up.