Let the World Feel the Pain!

Demon City's western district, the Fierce Ghost Street's temple.

A Shadow Priest draped in black robes sat on a pew in the chapel hall alongside a luxuriously dressed man.

Worshippers passing through the temple hall frequently cast glances at the elegantly attired man, solely because his sculpted, handsome appearance was truly uncommon.

In Hell, such looks were typically only seen on Succubi or members of the Blood Clan.

Considering the Shadow Priest's aversion to Succubi, the man's identity seemed self-evident, leaving only one possibility.

"How has he been lately?"

"So-so... How well can an 'orphan' be? Respected Mr. Roxsey, can't you imagine? That place is where Demon Lords are cultivated."

"I know, the teaching there is very strict—"

"Not just strict, most of the students there are High-level Demons with distinguished backgrounds like yourself. As a 'pure-blooded' human, he not only has to learn knowledge there, but also be careful not to become prey for other demons."

Sensing the displeasure and condemnation in that tone, Roxsey Colin's expression became slightly awkward, but he still instinctively wanted to excuse his irresponsibility.

"To be honest... I didn't think he would go down this path. Actually, I would have preferred him to become a clergyman serving the Demon God like Tiffany..."

Feeling the murderous intent in the gaze beside him, Roxsey couldn't help but shiver his neck, wisely stopping his words.

Although he was a Vampire Duke, he didn't have much confidence in front of this Shadow Priest.

It had nothing to do with strength or status.

Mainly because this elderly human Shadow Priest was the adoptive father of his deceased lover, in other words, his prospective father-in-law.

Not only that.

After his lover died of an incurable disease, he shamelessly begged this "father-in-law" to take in the child he had with his lover—namely Leon.

Even in Hell, illegitimate children were a disgraceful matter, especially illegitimate children born to clergy members.

But he really had no choice.

Born into a prestigious family like the Colins, even a Vampire Duke often had no control over his own life.

The elders and patriarch of the family would not agree to him accepting an illegitimate child to dilute the noble blood of the Colin family. No one in Hell was more obsessed with bloodlines than the Blood Clan.

And shortly after Tiffany passed away, Roxsey was forced by his father to marry the eldest daughter of a collateral family, and now he already had a son and a daughter.

"Become a clergyman... Heh, the Demon God's temple is almost becoming your kind of place to raise illegitimate children!"

Jeffrey sighed. Although he looked down on this guy from the bottom of his heart, he didn't want to be too harsh... after all, it was meaningless.

He had already said everything that needed to be said eighteen years ago and really didn't want to repeat it.

After a moment of silence, the elderly Shadow Priest slowly opened his mouth.

"Leon... he is a very hardworking child. He has his own ideas and is very opinionated. Even his name was chosen by himself. Since you have decided not to involve him in the affairs of the Colin family, I hope you can match your words with your actions and don't interfere with his development."

"I know, I know."

Roxsey smiled weakly, looking at the statue in front of the temple, his eyes filled with a hint of weariness and a bit of pride.

"To be honest, I'm also quite surprised. He's more diligent and outstanding than I imagined. Although his spellcasting talent can't be helped, in a place like Demon Lord Academy, he can actually get full marks in all written subjects, and has done so for two consecutive years... He might be more suitable to be the next family head than I am."

Although vampires are immortal, the position of family head can't be held indefinitely.

Every century, the family head will pass the Prince title, which symbolizes the status of family head, to the next family head, and enter the glorious Council of Elders.

However, because of this system, the family head actually has little real power in the first fifty years, and basically co-governs with the Council of Elders in the last fifty years.

And a family head like him might be a pawn of the Council of Elders for the entire century... until his child becomes the next family head, and passively becomes a powerful vampire Prince due to the weakness of the father's generation.

Looking at this indecisive man, Jeffrey said calmly.

"I remind you again, you said you wouldn't involve him in the Colin family's disputes."

At this moment, a bat flew in from the temple gate and landed precisely next to the bench.

Seeing the copper tube placed on the bat's foot, Jeffrey reached out and took it off, taking out the letter and stuffing a ticket inside as a reward for delivery.

Watching the bat fly away flapping its wings, Jeffrey unfolded the letter in his hand and saw the end, a smile appearing on his face, then he handed it to Roxsey sitting next to him.

"Your son's letter, I thought of reading it to you... but you should read it yourself."

Taking the letter, Roxsey carefully unfolded it.

When he read that Leon had volunteered to serve as a Demon Lord and had won the appreciation of a Demigod-level Lich, and had been recommended to the Cabinet for an important task, he couldn't help but stand up... although he quickly sat back down.

"He actually chose to become a Demon Lord?!"

This kid... has more guts than his father.

Thinking of this, Roxsey felt a burst of shame in his heart, but couldn't help but feel proud of him.

Jeffrey nodded, a smile on his face.

"As you can see, he's more outstanding than we imagined... even without your and your family's support."

"I... I don't know what to say." Clutching the envelope, Roxsey lowered his head in shame.

Jeffrey said gently.

"There's nothing to say, we can just support him silently from behind."

Roxsey was silent for a long time, then suddenly gritted his teeth and took off the ring on his index finger.

"Please pass this on to him for me."

Although this ring isn't a very powerful magic item, it's made of expensive mithril and blood diamonds, and selling it would easily fetch five or six million Hell Silver Coins.

As the next family head, although he doesn't have to worry about food and clothing, he can't squeeze out too much pocket money.

On the one hand, his father is watching him closely, and on the other hand, his current wife, whom he married openly, is also watching.

He sends almost all the money he can squeeze out each month to the temple here.

Jeffrey reached out and pushed the ring back, looking at Roxsey and shaking his head.

"The Colin family's ring appearing on the hand of an eighteen-year-old is not a good idea for either you or him. Not only will you not be able to help him, but it may also have the opposite effect, attracting the attention of those with ill intentions."

"But—"

Jeffrey stopped Duke Roxsey Colin, who seemed to want to say something, and continued in a calm tone.

"The money you sent him every month, I didn't give it all to him... Of course, I didn't donate it to the temple either, but mostly saved it for him. Now, counting it up, there's probably over two million in that account. Now that he's 18 and about to go to the Demon Lord Territory to take office, I think it's time to use this money."

Roxsey's face showed surprise, which then turned into excitement.

He didn't expect this future father-in-law to do so much for him!

"Thank you..."

Looking at the vampire Duke who sincerely thanked him, Jeffrey just smiled faintly and turned his gaze to the Demon God statue in front of the temple.

"You're welcome."

"He's not just your child."

He's also my grandson.

The next day.

At exactly six in the morning, the amethyst dome above Demon City lit up on time, scattering soft moonlight over the sleeping city.

For the demons of hell, the rising of the "moon" meant the beginning of a new day.

However, it was not the moonlight scattered on the corner of the table that woke Leon from his dream, but the knock on the door.

"Leon, are you awake? The graduation ceremony will be held in a while. I want to go to the cafeteria first. Do you want to come with me?"

It was Ige's voice.

As one of Leon's few friends in Class 2, Grade 3, the two occasionally went to class together.

Shaking his drowsy head, Leon propped himself up from the floor.

"Wait a moment, I'll be right there—never mind, I won't be able to finish here for a while, you go ahead, I'll be there later."

Looking at the messy room, Leon suddenly changed his mind halfway through his sentence.

Although Ige, standing at the door, found it strange, he didn't think much about it.

"Okay, then I'll go first."

Listening to the gradually receding footsteps at the door, Leon breathed a sigh of relief and began to get up to tidy up the messy room.

He had studied the "diary of a fellow villager" until late last night, and unexpectedly fell asleep on the floor.

But thanks to this, he had read the entire book from beginning to end.

Overall, the diary was quite interesting, to the extent that if he took it back to his hometown and submitted it to a website called Qidian, he might be able to get a contract. He even had a title for the book, called This Other World Is Too Realistic!

Maybe it could even top the monthly ticket chart?

The only thing worth complaining about was that this diary was too much like a diary. The vast majority of it was Isaac IV's complaints from the perspective of a modern person about the backward productivity and production system of the other world.

For example, noble ladies and wives didn't take baths, and the smell of body odor in the banquet hall could knock people out. For example, the toilets in the palace didn't have flushing toilets, and when going to the toilet, one had to be wary of assassins hiding under the tower... One of his brothers seemed to have been killed by an assassin using transcendent power in this way.

Another example was the lack of light bulbs, and the lack of smartphones, making it impossible to surf the Internet, etc... In short, they were all trivial matters in life.

Of course, this guy wasn't just complaining.

To solve these problems, he did some things that a transmigrator should do.

For example, he transformed the Ryan Kingdom's capital's drainage and water supply system, built drainage ditches and public bathhouses, improved papermaking, invented the printing press—he even created steam engines and fertilizers.

Leon wasn't sure if, given another ten or twenty years, this guy would have sparked an industrial revolution with strange forces and chaotic gods in another world.

In short, if the contents of the diary were true, then this guy couldn't be called "incompetent" at all.

The so-called "Incompetent King" moniker was more like a smear and frame-up by vested interest groups whose cheese had been moved.

Although the diary didn't mention what happened after this series of reforms, the General History of the Os Empire recorded that Isaac IV incurred divine punishment for blaspheming the gods and was stripped of his religious status by a divine decree personally issued by Saint Siss.

Immediately afterward, the Isaac IV group, abandoned by all, was immediately attacked by the Os Empire.

Although those reform achievements were basically preserved, the Isaac Dynasty was wiped out in the flames of war, leaving only a few words from the victors to conclude his life.

The current Ryan Kingdom is already the third dynasty, and all the past events about Isaac IV are history from a thousand years ago...

Honestly, Leon was full of doubts about this period of history.

According to Principal Ai Wen, Isaac IV, at the peak of his strength, seemed to possess power comparable to that of a god.

With the strength of an individual combined with the strength of the overall nation, how could the Isaac Dynasty be abolished by a single divine decree? Moreover, how exactly did this guy blaspheme the gods? Or what exactly did he do to incur the gods' jealousy?

Unfortunately, the diary didn't mention these things that Leon was really curious about, only writing that someone had created a steam engine and then stopping abruptly.

Even until the end of the diary, Isaac IV only mentioned in passing that he was really not suitable for cultivating magic, and the elements wandering between heaven and earth rejected him as if he had greeted their mothers, and he was destined to be only a Bronze-level his whole life.

Obviously.

Until this diary was finished, Isaac IV only had Bronze-level strength, and he completely relied on the power of mortals to gain the worship of mortals.

As for obtaining power comparable to that of a god, that was after he completed a series of reforms to the Ryan Kingdom, and after who knows how many years.

To be honest, Leon didn't care about steam engines at all. That stuff wasn't anything rare to someone who had received nine years of compulsory education.

In comparison, he certainly wanted to know how Isaac IV later broke through the Bronze-level bottleneck and finally stood on the shoulders of the gods...

But unfortunately, the part he was most curious about wasn't written! He didn't know if Isaac IV himself wrote it in other diaries, or if this memory had been completely erased in the long river of history.

"It seems that for some reason, Isaac IV ultimately didn't publish his diary... Was it because he didn't want to, or couldn't? Or... was there another purpose?"

Leon glanced at the translation written by Professor Ai Wen next to him.

Saying it was irrelevant would be too hurtful, but at least he guessed the punctuation correctly. It was also quite useful to simply treat it as a cultivation experience of a Demigod-level Lich.

I'll keep it for now.

If I'm lucky enough to cultivate to the Demigod or Grandmaster level.

Just as Leon was about to close the diary and go to sleep with disappointment, he saw a few lines of small print on the last page of the diary—

"I believe my transmigration was not accidental. After me, there will definitely be someone who comes here along the channel I once passed through. As for the reason... I'm not sure if I should tell you here, and I'm even less sure if you can still see this diary if I choose to tell you at this moment."

"In short, if you are my compatriot, you should be able to guess my identity, understand the information I left behind... and encounter the same problem as me someday in the future."

"And if that day really comes, I believe that even without my extra reminder, you will be able to understand your own mission."

"In addition, as a welcome gift, I have prepared a special present for you, which is also the last piece of work this king left in this world—"

"I believe you will definitely like it!"

The ink used for these lines was completely different from the previous pages.

Whether it was the quality of the ink or the distortion of the handwriting, it indicated that these words were likely added by Isaac IV on a whim, sometime after he had finished the entire diary.

Below this passage on the last page was a record of how to claim this "special gift."

It was a Bronze-level magic ritual that didn't require much mental power or magic power, something even he could barely afford.

The only requirement for the ritual was to prepare a relic that contained Isaac IV's aura.

Professor Ai Wen's necklace fit the bill perfectly! His sleepiness vanished instantly!

Suppressing his excitement, Leon spent an hour meticulously drawing the magic circle with magic crystal chalk, placing the necklace in the center of the array, and then reciting the line of incantation written in pinyin for some reason—

"Loyalty—"

"Ring the great bell!"

"Devotion—"

"Heat the copper furnace, start the valve!"

"Boiling—"

"Sincere water, pistons dance!"

"Praise—"

"Great God of Machines!"

Huh? God of Machines?

The moment he uttered the last syllable, Leon felt a flash of white light, and then he lost consciousness.

When he opened his eyes again, it was already the next morning.

Getting up from the floor, Leon felt a severe pain in the back of his head, as if he had a hangover.

Since this was the first time he had encountered such a situation, he couldn't figure out whether the throbbing pain in the back of his head was because he had been lying on the floor all night, or simply because his magic power was too low and had been drained by the magic circle in front of him.

"Magic power... doesn't seem to have decreased. The magic circle wasn't driven by magic power, but by some other energy?"

As for the so-called gift in the diary, Leon didn't feel much of anything, to the point where he even felt like he had been tricked.

What exactly was going on? Just as he hurriedly erased the magic circle and tidied up the room, he suddenly realized a serious problem.

"...Where's the necklace?"

Leon busily bent down and searched the floor, even opening the unrelated desk drawers and turning them upside down, but he couldn't find the necklace.

Gone?

Leon's expression gradually changed.

If Professor Ai Wen found out that he had lost the antique he had given him on the same day, he wondered if it would be enough to anger the old Lich back to life.

Tell it the whole story?

Like, the "cipher text" in that diary is actually a language from another world, and Isaac IV and I are both transmigrators...

"No... that wouldn't work, would it."

Leon's forehead was already covered in sweat. This would be even harder to get away with than telling that old monster that he had lost the necklace.

"Anyway, stay calm first."

Leon took a deep breath, sank his consciousness into the sea of consciousness, and calmed down to meditate.

It was at this moment, when he calmed down, that he suddenly noticed a trace of unusual anomaly in his sea of consciousness.

In the thin, gauze-like white mist, there seemed to be something he had never seen before.

According to the textbook, that cloud of white mist was his spiritual entity, or rather, his soul.

He had never heard of any ritual magic that could change the shape of the soul's origin! "...What's going on?"

With a hint of apprehension and curiosity, Leon controlled his consciousness and carefully floated towards the indescribable mist.

And as he went deeper into the spiritual world, he became more and more convinced that something was hidden in that mist.

There's something in there...

Could it be that necklace?!

No—

It doesn't seem that simple! When his consciousness was completely in the center of the spiritual world, he suddenly discovered that there was a stone tablet standing in that void.

When he saw the words engraved on the stone tablet, Leon was completely stunned.

["Calamity" System loading complete!]

[Let this foolish world feel pain!]

[—by, the supreme God of Machines, Lin Te·Aisaike]

The activity guessing is just for fun, everyone just have a happy laugh. By the way, quite a few people actually read it even without a pen name, allow me to be smug for two seconds, hehe.