Mind Demon's Path of Domination

Chapter 98: The calm before the storm

The human body was fascinating.

Very different kinds of things—blood vessels, cells, meat, blood, and bone—all mix together to create an incredibly complex system, seemingly conflicting with each other but truly supporting each other in a strange sense of harmony.

It was such a weirdly masterful thing. Mark would probably have to study it for months to figure it out completely, and for now, he didn't have that kind of time. The mega dungeon was expanding day by day and the humans were getting shaky in their seats.

The only thing Mark was relieved about was that if the Hunters decided to let the Angels come in, they would let the news know that in advance so as not to create panic in the general public.

Days began to pass.

Sitting still with a book explaining the human anatomy in his hand just wasn't Mark's stuff.

Thus, Mark's new kind of life began.

Every day, he would read as much as he could and when he thought he had learned something new, he would stop reading and contemplate on it. Memorizing was not enough, he had to understand the principles.

When nights arrive, he would head out with Dona and barge into another mafia gang's hideout. He would fight them and destroy them, then use the remaining as his training materials for Alchemy Shapeshifting.

Most gangs he fought were easy targets with barely a C-Rank Hunter at their helm. Choi Sung would drop them there with his truck and then, the rest would be history.

Even B-Rank Hunters were not much of a fight for Mark anymore. He was a demon, thus his body was naturally better, and he had an amazing offensive ability (Alchemy Shapeshifting,) it was indeed not easy to match up to him for a mere Hunter.

Hunters were inferior to Demons, to begin with.

Sometimes, Mark didn't even bring Dona along and just brought the hamster to be his Dungeon.

Soon enough, he had gained so many souls hunting the B-Rankers amidst the mafia, that he couldn't absorb any more souls. Yuri gave him all their locations and everything else that he needed.

He gave her all the money he stole which was useless to him, and already somewhat useless to Yuri, too.

…

Tonight, Mark was on another hunt. He had already killed all the weaker enemies and only one more man remained.

His heartbeat slowed down.

A cool wind stirred his short gray hair.

The ship beneath him waved through the dark sea and he could hear the clinking of chains as they hit the oar.

Suddenly, Mark turned back and an invisible wind sliced through the space where his head had just been.

The hamster panicked above his head.

"Got you!" Mark kicked the air to his side.

"Ugh!"

A man appeared in thin air and was kicked against the wall of the ship, bleeding.

"You have a nice ability," Mark said. "The invisible blade. You can both turn invisible and use your hand like a blade. But your smell, it doesn't vanish with your appearance."

He punched and the man's face broke like a watermelon.

[Killed a B-rank Hunter—The Host's Soul Space is full. Cannot absorb the Soul Sphere.]

[Soul Spheres: 1000.]

Mark clicked his tongue and clenched his hands into fist; he could feel warm blood in his hand. He looked up at the rather stormy night sky.

"A storm is on the way," he said.

Spreading his dark, feathery wings, he took to the skies with a speed half that of the speed of sound.

"This is a good way to gain battle experience," Reol'ran said, "But not nearly enough. Hunters are fundamentally flawed, they only have one ability, so they are obviously no match for you. This guy hadn't even broken your Defensive Magic Skin."

"What would you rate me in combat?" Mark asked, "In comparison to other Tier 1 creatures."

Reol'ran mused. "In this world alone, you should be among the best or even THE strongest Tier 1 Creature. I don't see any Hunter or a Lower Demon utterly besting you in combat. But including other worlds?"

"Including other worlds?"

"You have a nice offensive ability—Alchemy Shapeshifting. And a nice distracting ability—Heart Input or Dream Shock. And also your wings for faster movement and more mobility. Other than that, you have nothing special. I'd say you are slightly above average but still rather limited."

Mark flew above the storm clouds and looked through the horizon to see lightning building up in one particular cloud. Curious, he stopped for a second and watched it unfold.

"If that lightning hit you, you can die," Reol'ran warned.

"It's far and my Defensive Magic Skin is not broken, I won't be harmed if it isn't broken."

"No, the lightning is a continuous attack instead of one single blast. It will break your Defensive Magic Skin before you can react to it and you will be toast."

Mark flew higher and looked down, more cautious now. But it was a nice sight, so he watched regardless.

"What do I need to become a top-tier combatant for my level?"

"Offensive, Defensive, Movement, Stealth, Healing, and Investigation. Those are the vital aspects of a warrior. You still need more abilities to flesh you out and make your arsenal complete."

"Didn't you say I should not try to get more abilities like a child hoarding candies?" Mark asked with a frown.

"I didn't completely admonish that. It's not a good thing to have so many powers but know not to use any, but having no important powers when you need them is, equally if not more, bad.

"You have a very good offensive ability but your defenses are super shitty against your equals—unless you use Clown's Circus, that is but you know that ability is draining.

"If you had an actual decent defensive ability instead, you wouldn't need to be afraid when another person like Shiden appears against you; you could use your defensive ability to save yourself and fight on equal terms."

The lightning was building up, Mark looked at it with a contemplative expression.

"Next, your movement. It is above average due to the wings (not many at your level can fly,) but the wings can also be a slight hindrance for you in ground combat if the enemy knows how to use weaknesses—you need to find a way to take back your wings when needed.

"If you get a decent movement ability, your movement would become much deadlier. You could move like the wind and your enemies would despair due to the combination of all your powers."

Mark nodded in thought. A good movement ability could indeed do wonders for him.

As for taking back the wings when necessary, he needed to master the Alchemy Shapeshifting to do that.

"As for the next important facet of a warrior, stealth?" Reol'ran mind-shook her head. "You can use Parasite to change your appearance to act as somebody else but that's not stealth, that's disguise. You have no real way to be truly stealthy.

"You need an actual concealment type ability—that invisible blade ability earlier for example but something better that would also hide your smell since demons all have acute noses."

Mark wished he could use Dream Gambler's Mortal Puppet again to start another Dream Gamble with someone else. If he won, he could ask for any one thing from the losing opponent and he could ask for their ability.

Sadly, Dream Gambler's Mortal Puppet worked by manipulating the World Will silently and it would only work once. The system had warned him so in the ability's description. He didn't want to see the effects of trying it in his foolhardy.

And it would only work on Mortals in the first place, so he couldn't get abilities by default. Even with Seo Ran Hun, Mark had made the kid gain an ability himself.

"After stealth is… healing." Reol'ran grew serious. "Even that Black Water of yours can't heal you from mortal wounds. If a blade cuts off your hand, the water might help you stump the bleeding but it won't grow back a hand. You desperately need a decent healing ability. That's your actual biggest weakness"

"Indee—"

BOOM!

The lightning struck down and Mark felt his ears ring. His whole body began to shiver as goosebumps appeared all over.

"I indeed don't stand a chance against that level of power…" he said with awe. "Not even nearly."

"Lightning is too fast a thing, don't compare yourself to it when you are so weak. Now, the final but not unimportant part of a warrior's strength—investigation. You need to be capable of seeing through your enemy's camouflage and also their stealth. You have Soul Sense for that but all demons do.

There could be better investigation abilities out there that could boost your senses, you also need that."

Nodding, Mark flew through the air back towards the laboratory.

Reol'ran finished her class. "Offensive, Defensive, Movement, Stealth, Healing, and Investigation. Only when you become your own very best in each of those things will you be a truly dangerous force. All elites are at least above decent in everything. I myself am top tier in everything."

Mark sighed.

I am full of weaknesses even though I feel so strong. I am just a frog in a well—I need more experience. More powers. And I also have to control what I have better.

"Don't be disheartened," Reol'ran said. "It's not even been much time since you started out. Barely a month or so, right? You are doing really good for that amount of time."

Mark took a deep breath and nodded. But not good enough.

"I'll start on my other plan tonight," he said, somewhat nervous but equally excited.

Reol'ran remained silent.

She herself thought the plan to be a bit crazy but she could understand. Mark had to be crazy and gain as much power as he could as fast as he could—in merely a year, he was to face something that even Tier 5 creatures die against.

He was in a hurry.