Speculations and Conceptions

"Who left this message..."

Fran revised her guess. At first, she had thought this stone slab belonged to the Abyss.

But some organization studying the Abyss had obtained it and written information about the demon "Marius" on it as a marker.

Perhaps that organization had also conducted extensive research into the Abyss. It was even possible that the "Demon Warrior" Fran had seen at the Adventurers Guild was the work of that organization.

It was just possible that the organization had long since declined, or something else had happened, leaving no records of it behind. This stone slab might already have been one of its few remaining relics.

She had then guessed that the organization had left behind a way for humans to obtain the power of a Fourth Order demon—a method for advancing into a Fourth Order Profession.

That would explain why her Panel had presented her with a new Profession, and why the Elephant of Mountains Sect had been willing to use Divine Descent just to seize this stone slab.

A Fourth Order Profession's Promotion Method would be worth at least a hundred thousand gold coins, perhaps even more, and that was for relatively weak Fourth Order Professions.

A Fourth Order Profession related to the Abyss like this one might not be among the best, but it was hardly poor either. Its price could easily double.

Yet the second inscription that appeared beneath the violet glow directly overturned Fran's assumptions. She felt that whoever had left those words was either the Abyss itself or some Greater Demon.

The Abyss had many regulations governing demons. That was crucial information Fran had obtained from the demon Azali.

The Abyss might possess consciousness. To it, it did not matter which demon became Fourth Order; what mattered was that the Abyssal Overlord