Demon Assessment

"Whoosh, whoosh..."

On a small mountain several hundred kilometers outside Birel City in Hell, a gust of wind and sand suddenly swirled up. Then, the sand gathered into Roy's form.

"Mm, one hundred thousand kilometers. This speed is decent."

After sensing the distance he had traveled, Roy smiled.

After the Profound Mysteries of Laws of the Earth Travel Technique and Earth Element had completely fused, combined with Elementalization, Roy could travel one hundred thousand kilometers in an instant. Even among High-level Gods, few could match such speed.

The wind and sand dispersed, and Roy's figure reformed a hundred thousand kilometers away. After flashing several times in succession, Roy appeared outside Birel City.

"Birel City?"

"This counts as a city?"

For all these years, Roy had flown in a straight line toward the Planar Teleportation Array in Crimson Flame Prefecture. In more than three hundred years, this was the first city he had encountered along his route.

Looking at the small city before him, Roy felt somewhat puzzled.

Roy had personally witnessed the construction of a city.

The four walls of Sanhe City carried their own pressure. Before those walls, even Saint Domains could not fly, while Low-level Gods had their Flight Speed halved.

Even High-level Gods would be affected.

Yet although the walls of Birel City before Roy were as tall as those of Sanhe City, they lacked the innate "pressure" of Sanhe City's walls.

After following a group of people and paying the entrance fee, Roy entered Birel City.

After making a few inquiries, Roy arrived at Birel City's Demon Castle.

"Hello. Is there anything I can help you with?"

As soon as Roy entered the Demon Castle, a young woman in a green dress came forward to ask.

"Hello. I'd like to register as a demon here."

Although Roy believed he possessed the strength of a Three-star Devil, Sanhe City had only been established recently, and the staff of the Demon Castle had yet to move in. Thus, Roy was still not a demon.

"Certainly. This way, please."

"Mm."

Led by the young woman, Roy sat down before something like a counter. After filling out some basic information, the young woman took his documents away. She returned only a few minutes later.

"Hello, Mr. Star. Since you have just registered as a demon, and Birel City's Demon Assessment is held once every ten years, there are still seven years until the next assessment. Have you decided to take the Demon Assessment here in Birel City, or in another city?"

"Star" was the demon codename Roy had chosen for himself.

It was also Roy's hope for himself.

He hoped that one day, he would become a star that never fell, shining high above the nine heavens.

"Birel City will do."

After considering it briefly, Roy chose to take the Demon Assessment in Birel City. It was only seven years; it was not as if he could not wait.

Once he missed Birel City, who knew when he would encounter another city?

When traveling outside, a Demon Medal was proof of strength.

With a Demon Medal, ordinary people would generally not come looking for trouble.

Of course, those who dared cause trouble were never ordinary people.

Cities were different from Tribes.

Because Tribes were limited to a few hundred kilometers in radius, with even large ones covering only ten million kilometers, most trade was conducted through barter.

Cities, on the other hand, exchanged information with all of Hell and even other God Planes and Supreme Planes. With major organizations such as Demon Castles and auction houses established there, all transactions within cities used a unified currency—Ink Stones.

It was said that Ink Stones were produced when ores contaminated by Sovereign's Might underwent mutation. Some powerful experts could even extract Sovereign's Might from Ink Stones.

In the Spatial Ring Laurent had given Roy, aside from that Metal Life, there were also one hundred million Ink Stones.

Over the past few days, although Roy had not actively sought out information, he occasionally learned some intelligence from the conversations of other patrons while eating.

For instance, in Roy's eyes, Birel City was far inferior even to the not-yet-completed Sanhe City.

Whether in terms of its city walls, Demon Castle, or auction house, its scale was far below that of Sanhe City.

The only thing it had over Sanhe City was its population.

Yet in the eyes of these gods who traveled far and wide, Birel City was actually considered rather well-developed among small cities.

All this made Roy feel that Laurent's identity was anything but simple.

Moreover, from these people's words, Roy learned that the establishment of a small city would not draw the attention of Sovereigns.

Everything pointed to Laurent being extraordinary.

But that suited Roy just fine.

The more extraordinary Laurent was, the safer Sanhe City would be.

Once he brought back a batch of people from the Material Plane and Sanhe City was on the right track, he would have more time to cultivate.

Seven years passed in the blink of an eye.

Without realizing it, Roy, who had lived for over a thousand years, had grown accustomed to Hell's slow pace of life.

That day, Roy received a message from the Demon Castle while staying at an inn.

The once-every-ten-years Demon Assessment would begin in seven days.

During those seven days, Roy did not continue cultivating. Instead, he wandered around Birel City and bought some supplies to store in his Spatial Ring.

Then, on the seventh day, he headed to the Demon Castle.

"Mr. Star, this way, please."

Led by the same attendant from last time, Roy arrived on the second floor of the Demon Castle.

There were already seven people there. Judging by how they stood apart, they were all strangers.

Roy swept his gaze over them. There were three Low-level Gods, two Mid-level Gods, and two High-level Gods.

The two High-level Gods wore black Demon Medals on their chests.

Both were Three-star Devils.

The remaining five people, like Roy, had no Demon Emblems. Clearly, they were all here to take the Demon Assessment.

After waiting another half hour or so, another Low-level God came up to the second floor. At that point, one of the High-level Gods wearing a Demon Medal spoke.

"Alright, since everyone is here, I'll explain this Demon mission."

"The mission for us two High-level Gods is to escort a treasure worth over one hundred million Ink Stones from Birel City to Nichols City."

"Your task is to assist us. If you successfully reach Nichols City, you will have passed the Demon Assessment and become true demons."

"If you flee midway or die during the escort mission, you can only blame yourselves for being too weak and coming to take the Demon Assessment without sufficient preparation."

"Alright, do any of you have objections? If you think it is too dangerous, you may withdraw and take the next Demon Assessment."

"I-I withdraw."

"Me too."

As soon as the High-level God demon finished speaking, two Low-level Gods chose to withdraw.

After the two left the second floor, they waited for several minutes. Seeing that no one else intended to withdraw, the High-level God spoke again. "Alright. Since all of you have made up your minds, let us depart."

With that, the High-level God took the lead downstairs, and Roy and the others hurried after him.

After leaving the Demon Castle, the High-level God stretched out his hand, and a miniature Metal Life appeared in his palm.

With a toss of his hand, the Metal Life rose into the sky. As it ascended, it gradually grew larger until it became an Airship five meters wide and thirty meters long.

"Flying from Birel City to Nichols City would take at least three hundred years. With a Metal Life, it will take around thirty years."

"Let's go."

"Mm."

After entering the Metal Life, the High-level God began assigning tasks.

The Metal Life required divine power to maintain its Flight Speed.

The two High-level God demons were the main Combat Power for this mission and had to remain in peak condition at all times. Therefore, the task of supplying divine power to the Metal Life fell to Roy and the other six.

Roy and the other Mid-level God each chose two Low-level Gods. The two groups would take turns supplying divine power to the Metal Life, rotating once every year.

During the first year, Roy's group was responsible for powering the Metal Life, while everyone else entered the rooms inside it.

"Whoosh..."

"Huh? This speed?"

Standing within the Metal Life and sensing its speed, Roy was surprised to find that its Flight Speed was actually slower than his travel speed when he fused the Profound Mysteries of Laws of the Earth Travel Technique and Earth Element with Elementalization.

Roy had named that move "Shrink Ground." In an instant, he completely transformed himself into an Earth Element, then fused it with the Profound Mystery of Laws of the Earth Travel Technique, using the countless Earth Elements in space to instantly arrive anywhere within the range of his Spiritual Sense. At Roy's current rate of Spiritual Sense expansion, he could reach a location one hundred thousand kilometers away in one second.

Based on Roy's comparison with his own speed, this Metal Life traveled at roughly seventy to eighty thousand kilometers per second.

The problem was that Roy suddenly remembered what the Three-star Devil who owned the Metal Life had said: from Birel City to Nichols City, the Metal Life needed thirty years, while flying required over three hundred years?

That should be the Flight Speed of that High-level God.

The Flight Speed of the Metal Life was ten times that of an ordinary High-level God.

In other words, the speed of Roy's "Shrink Ground" was more than ten times that of an ordinary High-level God?

Mm. Thinking of this, the corners of Roy's lips rose slightly, and his sense of security greatly increased.

After instructing the two Low-level Gods assigned to him to pay attention to the rotation and wake him when their divine power ran low, Roy began cultivating.

Mm, those two Low-level Gods were very sensible. They did not disturb Roy for the entire year, leaving him quite satisfied.

Thus, although Roy was nominally one of the people responsible for supplying divine power to the Metal Life, with the help of the two sensible Low-level Gods, he was able to cultivate peacefully for more than ten years.

That day, Roy suddenly felt a sense of danger rise within him. He immediately dared not be careless and directly exited his cultivation state. With a thought, a layer of ripples appeared in the air around him.