A low-level world tainted by Demonic Qi!
Night.
In the pitch-black woods, a lone campfire burned, its bright flames illuminating the surroundings.
Five or six carriages stood around the campfire. The creatures pulling them were pitch-black and resembled horses. They lowered their heads, their eyes occasionally twitching.
Beside the carriages around the campfire, more than a dozen humanoid Devils leaned quietly against the vehicles.
All of the Devils wore troubled expressions, and most of them seemed mature, even approaching the end of their days.
It was clear that the Devils in this group were no longer young.
The oldest Devil in the entire caravan wore a black robe, with wisps of white hair faintly visible beneath his hood.
After a while, the oldest Devil slowly lifted his head.
"The resource monopoly imposed by the various powers is growing ever more severe. The headquarters of the Night's Hand has already been breached, so returning there now would be pointless. Our only option is to use the resources we have on hand and the Rapid Demonic-Qi Cultivation Program to force one of our own to reach the Third Level. Otherwise, once the powers occupying our headquarters' resources start using the Rapid Demonic-Qi Cultivation Program, we'll never have a chance to turn things around!"
As he spoke, the oldest Devil tapped on the carriage behind him.
At his words, the many humanoid Devils present revealed a variety of expressions.
The younger Devils with better talents all showed hope in their eyes. Their gazes turned feverish as they looked toward the carriage.
Clearly, most of what was inside the carriage was resources.
But among them, some Devils wore resentful expressions and continued to complain.
"It's all those old fools in the organization's fault for stopping us! If they hadn't blocked the use of the