Devil

Adam was intrigued. "Tell me in detail."

The devil had not expected Adam to make such a request. It choked up at once and stammered, "Th-this... this is something I was born knowing. I don't know either..."

Adam realized there was a problem with the way he had asked. The innate gifts of living beings could sometimes be utterly unreasonable; without sufficient knowledge to support them, trying to explain them through words alone was far too difficult. So he changed the question. "Can you connect to my thoughts?"

The devil shuddered. It heard malice in those words and hurriedly shook its head. "No, no, no! Respected and great Master, how would your humble servant dare peer into your thoughts? I merely obtained some common knowledge from that idiot's brain!"

As it spoke, the devil grew excited. "Great Master, I can scarcely believe that I have become a mage's servant! A mage! In my fragmented Inheritance Memory, the Mage Plane was an enemy that absolutely could not be provoked. Neither devils nor Abyssal Creatures could even find the Plane Coordinates of the mage world!"

Adam caught the term Inheritance Memory. Abyssal Creatures were creatures of flesh and blood, so they should possess the organs and Body Tissue capable of passing down Genetic Information. But how did a Will Life pass down such information?

"Do you know what exactly you are?"

The devil changed its appearance, vaguely taking on the form of a woman. It revealed an incredulous expression. "My Master, you actually have no desire whatsoever for the opposite sex?"

Adam narrowed his eyes and viciously lashed the devil through the contract. "Answer my question. Do not do anything unnecessary."

The devil let out a shriek, its body blurring back into a chaotic form as it begged, "Please stop, Master! I won't dare do it again!"

Adam continued the punishment. A creature that survived by deception was not worthy of trust; it had to be taught a lesson. Sure enough, before long, the devil could not even scream. Its chaotic form was beginning to disperse, and only then did Adam stop.

Like a blot of filth, the devil collapsed across the floor. It could no longer speak and could only convey a weak will through the contract. "Energy... energy..."

Adam tossed it more than a dozen units of Energy Stone. The devil greedily devoured them all, only then recovering its stability. It no longer dared play tricks and said obediently, "I should be a devil, but I also seem to be an Abyssal Creature."

"Should be? Seem to be?" Adam was deeply dissatisfied with such qualifiers.

The devil trembled all over before continuing, "Devil, devil, I am a devil. But it seems I was gestated through the body of an Abyssal Creature. Those damned, chaotic, stupid beasts' instincts ruined my Inheritance Memory. I forgot every method of forming contracts!"

As it spoke, the devil began sobbing. "Master, can you imagine it? I constantly want to eat blood food! To eat that filthy Body Tissue!"

"Shut up." Adam cut off the devil's hypocritical crying and continued, "What use are you if you have forgotten every contract?"

The devil abruptly stopped. Not merely its voice, but even its thoughts froze. Only after a long while did it say awkwardly, "I... I... I don't know either..."

Adam gave it a scornful glance. Abyssal Creatures could provide Low-Level Mages and apprentices with immediate Combat Strength, while a devil's various contracts were often immensely useful. But this hybrid truly had no use at all. Not only was its combat power pitifully low, it also lacked the marvels of a Will Life. It was simply trash.

"I think..."

Before Adam could finish, the devil dejectedly took over. "I think the only thing about me worth studying is perhaps the way I was born."

That was exactly what Adam thought. But it would involve knowledge of Other Planes and biology, and for now, he had no way to acquire either, nor did he have any reliable assistants. Besides, his interest in this area was not particularly great. "Go out. Do not leave the laboratory." For now, he would let this devil fend for itself. Perhaps it might prove useful in the future when he was capable of studying souls.

The devil drifted dejectedly out of Adam's room. It was a creature that instinctively pursued the thoughts of living beings, and with a plop, it sprawled beside James and Frank, startling them both. They instinctively raised their defenses, and their crude Telekinesis Barriers immediately sent the juvenile hybrid devil flying. "What is that thing?!"

Adam's voice came from inside the room. "My slave. A useless devil."

The two looked at each other. Wasn't that egg an Abyssal Creature? How had it given birth to a devil?

The devil was casually tossed into the laboratory by Adam. William was greatly afraid of it, while James and Frank often went to tease it during breaks from training. Its crude manifestations of desire were utterly useless against prepared apprentices, and the devil could only endure their bullying in humiliation.

After receiving Adam's permission, the two gave the devil the construction method for the Telekinesis Meditation Method. Adam was also happy to have someone conduct all sorts of experiments for him. Perhaps this Will Life might give him some new inspiration.

On this day, Elliot came to the laboratory once again. The instant he saw the devil, he erupted with boundless curiosity, constantly doing all manner of outrageous things to it with various methods and potions. Adam ignored him and merely asked strangely, "Why are you always the one who comes to notify me?"

Elliot gave him a resentful look.

Elliot brought good news. During the previous mission, Adam had single-handedly killed every invading Anti-Mage Apprentice and prevented losses to the academy. The academy had decided to reward him by opening the third level from the top of the library.

Only now did Adam learn that Formal Mages did not go to the academy library, because it stored only knowledge from the apprentice stage. The third level from the top was filled entirely with rune knowledge—real rune knowledge.

The free rune knowledge course James was responsible for was merely hanging up a sheep's head while selling dog meat. It only taught Newbies Meditation Methods, without touching on why runes could appear at all or why they had to be expressed in such forms.

Adam had asked that question too. James's answer was that he did not know either.

At that moment, Adam found James rather laughable. He did not possess Adam's Computational Power, allowing him to forcefully construct a Meditation Method from a single sample and countless complex calculations. He did not even know why rune lines had to be drawn that way, yet he dreamed of opening up a new path. No wonder he had failed.

James responded with a bitter smile. "The top three levels contain the core knowledge of the apprentice stage. Apprentices with aptitude like mine are not qualified to read them. Not just me—none of the apprentices currently at Mordo Academy are qualified to enter the top three levels. Only you are, the first since that batch of geniuses died in the Tower War."

Amid their resentful gazes, Adam entered the third level from the top alone.

When Adam saw titles on the third level such as Extensions of Rune Lines, The Stability of Rune Shapes, and The Application of Arcs and Curves in Runes, he was stunned. "This is... geometry?"

He flipped through the books at an astonishing speed, his eyes growing brighter and brighter. The knowledge described in these books belonged to the domain of Euclidean geometry on Earth, but it contained only knowledge ranging from plane geometry to solid geometry. Higher-level spatial geometry was described in only a few scattered sentences, used to combine plane geometry and solid geometry within the mind. As for even more profound and obscure subjects such as non-Euclidean geometry and differential geometry, there was no description at all. (I'm just bad at studying. Smart people, just enjoy the show... Anyone who fusses over the details is an idiot.)

But this was already enough. Adam ravenously accepted this baptism of knowledge.

His problem was that his use of imagination had not reached the point where it moved as readily as an arm or finger. In Adam's way of thinking, the part that belonged to a computer still occupied a dominant position. He was skilled at analyzing and calculating a given problem, but not at independently creating hypotheses and then verifying them.

After Adam returned to the laboratory from the library, he shut himself in his room. He discovered that the Rune Array composed of the nineteen runes he had created contained a great deal of redundancy. It could be reduced into a more optimized structure, making the use and refinement of Mental Power more efficient and convenient, while also producing telekinesis of superior quality.

A month passed. William, the other two, and the devil looked at one another, utterly unaware of what Adam was doing in seclusion.

"Master won't starve to death, will he?" the devil muttered, then shuddered. The two had formed a Master-Servant Contract. If the Master died, it would have no chance of survival. "How about you go in and take a look?"

William and the other two were also anxious. They had many questions they wanted to ask. Their construction of telekinesis had reached the middle stage, but they had found that their Mage's Armor was showing signs of becoming non-Self-Consistent. Yet none of them dared knock on the door.

"Adam has a Personal Space. If an apprentice only needs to maintain life, very little energy is required. He should be fine for now."

Another ten days passed. The devil could already sense weakness in the soul at the other end of the contract. Lying on the ground, it said, "Is Master insane? Starving himself to death for research?"

William and the other two exchanged glances. James stepped forward and placed his hand beside the door, only to slowly lower it again. "Wait a little longer..."

Another seven days passed. There were only five days left before the trial began. The devil felt that the other end of the contract had weakened to the extreme, its flame of life flickering uncertainly like a Flickering Candle in the wind. It could no longer endure it. "Blow the door open, quickly! Master is going to die!"

William and the other two looked at one another, but none wanted to move first. Who knew whether Adam inside was at the most crucial moment? If their interruption ruined the results of his research, it would be an irreconcilable feud among mages.

The devil's Chaos Body rippled, changing into Adam's appearance. Gritting its teeth and stamping its foot, it charged toward the door. "Damn it, get out of the way. I'll do it!" With that, it lowered its head and rammed the door. It did not expect to break it open, but as long as it felt pain, its Master would naturally sense it.

Unexpectedly, it lunged into empty air. The instant it approached the door, the room that had remained shut for nearly two months opened.

Adam emerged from within, gaunt and haggard. A Telekinesis Barrier flashed into existence and violently knocked the devil away. Then he looked at them and asked evenly, "What are you all gathered here for?"