I Envisioned Myself

People could achieve anything if they dared to dream big enough.

Loren was not a soul from this world and had no reason to be so reverent.

Once he had decided to do something, he would never give up.

After taking several deep breaths, he calmed the turmoil inside him and returned to his usual state of mind.

Then he summoned the memories etched into the Archdemon Bloodline. In an instant, an Archdemon appeared in his mind: three meters tall, with blood-red wings on its back, two sharp horns on its head, and an immense aura of power radiating from its entire body.

Its terrifying aura crashed down like a mountain tens of thousands of meters high, an overwhelming force no mortal could withstand.

Though it was merely an apparition, Loren felt as if he were facing a terrifying being that could suppress all of time and space.

An Archdemon!

What a terrifying presence.

Loren's mind trembled.

Only after taking several long breaths did he quell his inner shock and begin to study the Archdemon's apparition.

It was a pure killing machine, its body covered in vicious spikes. Its fingers were as sharp as daggers, and even a warrior's shield would be as flimsy as paper before them.

A curved spike ran down its back like a javelin, giving it a fearsome appearance.

Its blood-red eyes brimmed with savagery and bloodlust. Even though it was only an apparition, looking into its eyes still shook Loren. Clearly, it possessed some kind of powerful bloodline talent.

To face such a terrifying creature, one would likely need to muster an army of tens of thousands.

It was simply too frightening.

After a long while, Loren came back to himself.

A trace of excitement stirred within him.

The Archdemon was undoubtedly a terrifying being on par with dragons.

His Archdemon Bloodline was still at the beginner stage. He would have to advance it to Platinum, Transcendent, or even Legendary before he could uncover its potential.

He did not hesitate any longer and began using his mental power to construct the form of an Archdemon.

Though he had a model to reference—and was himself an Archdemon—the task was still as difficult as scaling the heavens.

Merely using mental power to shape its appearance took a tremendous effort, let alone trying to reproduce the oppressive aura of the Archdemon's apparition.

He was only a Silver Beginner. Trying to glimpse a life-form of this epic tier was undoubtedly hellishly difficult.

After dozens of attempts, he could only manage to use his mental power to construct a rough outline, and even that consumed a great deal of it.

At the very beginning of the construction, even a single arm or wing could make the apparition collapse.

And every time he failed, the backlash struck him, stabbing pain spreading through his mind as if it were being pierced by needles.

But Loren had never been one to give in. With a tenacious, unyielding will, he gritted his teeth and pressed on.

Yet failure did not stop.

Again and again, success seemed to become an increasingly distant hope.

Envisioning the Archdemon was far more difficult than he had imagined.

By the end, Loren was almost numb. His face was deathly pale, and his muscles twitched involuntarily from the pain.

But even so, he kept trying to construct the apparition.

After an unknown number of failures, when his mind was utterly exhausted, he entered a peculiar state.

At that moment, everything around him seemed to slow down.

Then, in that state, inspiration struck. Without a sound, he sketched out an apparition completely unlike the Archdemon.

He could not even make out its face. Only its two wings revealed what it was.

But this was the most complete apparition he had ever managed to create.

Unfortunately, the moment it was complete, it lasted no more than the blink of an eye before collapsing.

This time, the backlash was especially fierce. His shattered mental power seemed to whip up into a hurricane, inflicting unbearable pain in an instant.

Loren's vision went black, and he fainted on the spot.

A long while later.

Sensing the chill spreading through his body, Loren slowly opened his eyes, his mind still groggy.

He turned to look around. The dim room posed no difficulty for him.

Demons had natural night vision. Even in the dark, everything appeared as bright as day to them.

Outside the window, the light of the two moons poured down like quicksilver, shining through the glass onto the furniture and casting dim shadows.

The once-steaming bathwater had gone completely cold, and the candles in the room had long since burned out.

The depletion of his mental power felt like a heavy weight lodged in his mind, making everything around him seem unbearably heavy.

Loren gave a wry smile.

"I got ahead of myself. I never thought that constructing an Archdemon's apparition alone would consume all my mental power. No wonder the descendants of the Orchid Family in this generation only envision the Orchid."

"It's not that they don't want to envision something else. They just can't."

After awakening two bloodlines, his mental power had already surpassed the limit of Silver Grade. It might even have exceeded that of an early-stage Gold cultivator.

And even so, envisioning the Archdemon had left him utterly drained.

By comparison, an ordinary descendant of the Orchid Family would probably be just as exhausted as he was after envisioning a Magic Beast—as if their kidneys had been drained dry.

Squelch—

Loren climbed out of the water, dried himself off, changed into comfortable pajamas, and lay down on the bed, his face pale.

The room fell quiet. Only then did Loren notice that although his mental power was depleted, the new mental power he was regenerating seemed a little more resilient than before.

The difference was slight, but he could sense it clearly.

That reassured him. At least this self-torment had yielded something worthwhile; otherwise, it would have been a serious loss.

As he pondered, Loren slowly drifted off to sleep.

Early the next morning, Loren was woken by the glaring light streaming into the room.

When he opened his eyes, it was already broad daylight.

He turned toward the window. The orange-red sun had just begun to rise, and the rosy dawn stretched across the sky, a magnificent sight.

Loren got up and stretched comfortably.

After a night's rest, his depleted mental power had completely recovered, and it had clearly grown stronger as well.

His senses had become sharper.

After a moment, Loren nodded with satisfaction.

"At this rate, I'll advance to Silver Intermediate in less than a week."

After thinking for a moment, he turned and took a set of black, close-fitting clothes from the wardrobe, then quickly pulled them on.

A moment later, a handsome, dashing young man stood in the room.

He opened the door and stepped outside.

Two maids were just arriving. When they saw that Loren had already changed and come out, their expressions shifted. They quickly gathered their skirts, curtsied, and, once they had straightened up, lowered their heads nervously.

"Master Loren, we're terribly sorry. We're late."

A male servant was supposed to help Loren change, but the manor had no male servants, so the task had fallen to these two maids.

Making their master dress himself was a grave dereliction of duty.

Loren waved a hand. He had little patience for these tedious aristocratic rules.

"Don't worry. I'm not used to having other people help me get dressed. You may go."

Seeing that Loren did not blame them, the two maids finally relaxed. They glanced gratefully at the handsome young man who made their hearts race, blushed, then turned and left.

Once they reached the bottom of the stairs, the two maids immediately relaxed and began chattering.

"Master Loren really is so kind. He didn't punish us at all."

"We're so lucky to serve such a handsome nobleman. Anna, wouldn't it be wonderful if he took a liking to me?"

"Doma, stop dreaming."

"Hmph, I don't believe you've never thought about it. The way you looked at him just now, you were practically drooling."

"I was not."

"What are you talking about? Have you finished your work in the kitchen?" A stern voice from the stairwell corner made the two maids freeze.

"Steward Bohr."

Bohr, his hair white with age, wore the polished elegance and sternness expected of a noble's steward.

Seeing the two girls' pitiful expressions, his face softened.

"Don't gossip about Master Loren behind his back again. If I hear you do it again, I won't go easy on you next time."

"Thank you for your kindness, Steward Bohr. We won't do it again."

The two maids, caught gossiping, hurriedly thanked him, then quickly hurried down the stairs.

Once Bohr was out of sight, they exchanged a glance. Then the two nervous girls suddenly burst out laughing.