First Summoning

In truth, Roy had chosen to kill Yaskalos mainly to verify whether Yaskalos's own soul had grown stronger after devouring a High-quality Soul.

The reason why he wanted to verify this was because Yaskalos had said that to seek the Quenching Land in the deeper Abyss World, one had to advance to a Middle Demon. Yaskalos might have known how to advance but chosen to lie to Roy—though it was also possible that he truly did not know. Regardless, Roy vaguely felt that the key to advancement might still be related to devouring souls, and most likely to the strengthening of one's soul.

Only when a soul's power had grown to a certain extent could one become a Middle Demon...

Unfortunately, Yaskalos had encountered a powerful enemy during the summoning process and had been killed and expelled. Although he had returned to the Demon World, his soul had been damaged as a result. This made it impossible for Roy to tell whether Yaskalos's soul had ever shown signs of growing stronger, so for the time being, he had no way of knowing whether that High-Quality Soul sacrifice had actually enhanced Yaskalos's soul.

Roy did not know whether his guess was correct, but he believed there had to be a reason demons tirelessly pursued souls. It could not simply be because they tasted good and were addictive.

Devouring souls could help demons accumulate magic power; this first benefit had already been confirmed. During this period, the magic energy attribute had returned to its maximum value, and the increase of 0.3 had not changed. This indicated that the soul he had devoured before had indeed raised his upper limit.

According to the information in Yaskalos's words, a Demon Heart was a storage vessel for magic power. This also explained why Roy had felt a warm current flow toward his heart whenever he devoured a soul.

Yaskalos had also said that Lower Demons had complex bloodlines and seemingly could not construct Output Circuits within their bodies. As a result, Lower Demons possessed magic power but could not use it. Yet this did not apply to Roy, because he had already proven that he could activate Telekinesis by consuming magic energy.

This made Roy realize something. The reason why his attribute was displayed as [Magic Energy] instead of [Magic Power] on the System Interface was probably because, as an unusual demon, he could use more than just magic!

Superpowers, Battle Aura, Spiritual Power, and the like—perhaps Roy could use them all. Thus, [Magic Energy] was actually just a general term for the source of all supernatural energies. It was different from the magic power demons needed to use Demonic Magic!

Once he understood this, Roy immediately became interested. Right, since it was a Private Customization System, didn't that mean he could customize magic and skills exclusively for himself? In any case, what they ultimately consumed was magic energy. There was no need to worry about whether Haki and Chakra were compatible!

So, how were skills customized? Roy could not help opening the System Interface and looking at the two function tabs, [3D] and [AE]. His intuition told him that these two functions might be the key to customizing skills. Unfortunately, both tabs were currently dimmed, indicating that they could not be used yet.

"This should mean I'm missing the requirements for using them, right?" Roy unconsciously swished his tail as he pondered. "Considering that the system requires souls as the price for everything, the conditions for using these two functions should also be related to souls! And perhaps they might specifically require High-Quality Souls! Yes, High-Quality Souls!"

Roy was instantly invigorated. He had wondered before: since Low-grade Souls could also be used to modify his body through the System Interface, why distinguish between low and high quality? Now he finally understood. High-grade Souls were for advanced applications in the system!

Thus, Roy had a goal for what came next: obtain a High-Quality Soul and test it.

Stretching out his claws, Roy grabbed Yaskalos's corpse and laboriously dragged him down from the altar. Yaskalos was enormous, and Roy could not let him block the altar and take up space. After clearing the altar, Roy began waiting nearby.

Since hatching, Roy had captured nothing but Low-grade Souls in this Upper Abyss World. It seems that obtaining High-Quality Souls in this Upper Abyss would be a slim hope. Even if there was a chance for them to appear, it was probably quite low, so Roy simply turned his attention to the other worlds connected by the Abyss Gate.

Roy did not have to wait long. The Magic Array on the altar began glowing faintly once more and started up with a hum. A trace of bloody smell began drifting out from the Void.

Mm, very good! This meant that the summoner in the world beyond the Abyss Gate was still using blood to lure demons. That was good news for Roy.

Roy did not want to charge headlong into some high-powered world and end up like Yaskalos, killed and expelled back. Worlds where blood was used to attract demons were the best choice. Either the summoner was an amateur in a world where occult knowledge was underdeveloped, or they did not need much demonic power and merely wanted to draw in a Low-Rank Demon to accomplish some trivial task.

Either way, it was an excellent choice for Roy's first summoning.

Still, Roy waited a little longer. He wanted to judge the summoner's magical strength based on how long the Magic Array remained active.

To his surprise, while Roy was waiting, a Little Demon was drawn over by the bloody smell. When it crawled onto the altar and saw Roy waiting nearby as a competitor, who knew where it got the courage, but it actually bared its teeth at Roy in threat!

Faced with such a suicidal Little Demon, Roy decisively slapped it away! He smashed the Little Demon's head to pieces!

Roy casually picked up a Low-grade Soul and put it away, then stepped into the Magic Array. Only when he saw that the light of the array was about to vanish, indicating that the summoner was running out of magic power, did he feel at ease enough to Respond to Summon.

The Abyss Gate opened, and mist enveloped Roy's body, giving him a very strange sensation. Within the Abyss Gate, endless darkness surrounded him. Only a glimmer of light shone from above—an exit leading to another world. As Roy stood there, his body began to turn insubstantial.

His body seemed to transform into a beam of light and fly toward the exit overhead. When he reached it, everything around him became a blinding expanse of light, and his body began to reappear.

As the dazzling light faded, Roy found himself in an unfamiliar place. At the same time, a burst of shouting reached his ears.

"S-Success!?"

"A demon appeared!"

"S-So scary! Get back!"

A chaotic jumble of voices reached Roy's ears, making him irritated. Looking down, he found himself standing inside a Magic Array. This array resembled the one on the altar in the Demon World, but it had been carved into grooves in the ground. Red blood flowed through those grooves, outlining the Magic Array like ink.

Four Human Skulls had been placed at equal distances around the Magic Array, with burning candles fixed atop them. In addition, several Glass Jars filled with internal organs had been placed between the skulls. A rotten stench permeated the air.

A group of people dressed in black cloaks stood far outside the Magic Array, staring fearfully at Roy within it. Judging from their panicked expressions, they probably could not believe they had truly summoned a demon...

Roy felt terrible. During the summoning process, he had felt as though something had appeared within his soul—perhaps the Ouroboros Mark. Yet this mark, which protected his soul from perishing, made him feel slightly dizzy. Before the dizziness had even faded, he had been hit by the nauseating rotten stench, and the chaotic noise from the people around him only made him more irritated.

So Roy could not help opening his mouth and letting out a tremendous roar at them!

"Shut up!!! Who the hell summoned me!!??"