Dungeon Diver: Stealing A Monster’s Power

[Ascended Demon's Core] [+1000% All Stats] is what my appraisal skill shows hovering over the largest black orb.

My curiosity grows at the sight of this, as pretty much all of the gear I'm wearing far surpasses this buff. However, a greater and Arch Demon's core both fall with it, surrounded by shattered blood-bonded gear from the demon that surpassed 5000% buffs.

There must be a reason that it had all three, it definitely wasn't for the stat increases.

I follow the falling gear downward by deactivating my Astral Form.

From a staggering 2600 meters in height, the pure mana and divine energy form compacts and shrinks back down into my Greater Form, then back into nothing more than my physical body.

Green and yellow threads spin in my core, and they fight for dominance inside my body, causing violent microscopic tears all over my flesh every second.

My entire being feels hot and unnatural, but I can tell that if I let up on regenerating for even a second, the energy inside will tear away every bit of physical matter holding on.

It's a very odd sensation, as every second I continue to hold on, my True Core attempts to adapt to the changes taking place. My Divine Absorption ability continues to morph my genes, making it slightly easier to stay standing with these many green threads ravaging through me.

This doesn't stop me from reaching forward and touching the Ascended Demon's Core, watching it fall into my open palm.

There are five cores in total: one soul energy core with qi and mana, one dense divine core with green and yellow threads, and now three Demon Cores of varying sizes. None of them have any active demonic energy inside.

I feel the instant stat buff add to my status, but nothing extra or special happens. I look around while opening up my storage to let the two smaller cores fall inside as well as the three crimson horns that remain from the Noble Demon's True Form.

Other than that, all of its flesh and blood-bonded armor was burned away by my flames the moment it died.

I take a deep breath, feeling my links of loyalty continue to surge upward, and take in the silence of the aftermath of the battle.

At the same time, the absorption of all of the Demon's True Core's threads finally finishes; there is even some yellow energy leftover that I cannot fully absorb.

Its words at the start of our battle, claiming that I don't even have a saturated True Core, make sense to me. I can feel there is a soft limit to the amount of yellow threads I'm able to gather—my core doesn't want to take in any more.

It is far more eager to process even the ambient green divine threads that float in the atmosphere around me.

Paired with this feeling, another odd sensation washes over me, as now I can fully understand what Beckman's horse with the [Mind Devourer] buff had as a True Core ability...

Memories come rushing into my mind like a tidal wave. I gasp for air as my vision goes black and I lose touch with my links of loyalty and the outside world while my mind is swept away to look through the eyes of this Demon's Past.

–

I view its earliest memory: being born as a fledgling Demon in a sea of Darkness.

It's as if the memories are my own.

I can feel the high density of Demonic Energy in the air, and it's like nothing I've ever felt before.

Almost like it's swimming in an ocean of pure power to absorb at its fingertips.

The first few days of its life, it did exactly that—wandering around in the darkness with no knowledge at all of what it was or why it was brought into existence.

The only thing it knew was that it felt good to become stronger, so it absorbed the thick plumes of Demonic Energy all around it and wandered aimlessly while growing its fledgling body.

However, on a Noble Grade world with so much energy to consume, there are plenty of other beings that seek to grow stronger than the rest.

Its only ability was a shadow movement technique that masked its presence from danger, as well as the innate knowledge of how to absorb and manipulate Demonic Energy. ṙ

This not only allowed it to hide from Demonic Beasts and other ravenous Demons far stronger than itself but also gave it the power to lurk in the shadows and become a silent killer, only attacking those it was sure to defeat.

Colossal Beasts lurk in the depths of this Noble Grade Demonic realm, shaping its worldview. To survive, it must become unfathomably strong.

Years pass, and this Demon never makes a wrong move, killing anything weaker than itself with ease and never challenging a monster out of its league.

The darkness is where it hides, and anything that moves is danger.

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Never seeing the light of day, this is what life is, and harnessing the darkness is all it knows.

That is, until one day when red, orange, and yellow beings lit up the darkness and slaughtered mountain-sized Demonic Beasts with ease.

Whatever these colorful beings were, the Demon knew they were strong, and it knew it for sure when one of them appeared before it, pointing a long sword at the young Demon's neck and exuding an ominous pressure that made it want to fall to its knees.

However, It didn't submit despite the overwhelming strength gap. It tried to fight back and survive by any means necessary, but it was impossible to run; the yellow figure that looked very similar to it blipped in front of it everywhere it ran, repeating the same words over and over:

"You have been chosen."

All over this small Noble Grade Demonic world, Knights, Commanders, and Generals from the Vermillion Family seek out fledgling Demons that have made it through the incubation process on a world owned by the collective Five Great Families.

This Demon and thirty-four others were chosen and brought back to the Demonic Realm.

–

Memories rush through my mind of the vast world filled with Demons, Demonic Beasts, civilizations, and most awe-inspiring, the five massive black towers that resemble the throne here on the human world.

40 years of Demonic combat training go by, teaching these new recruits how to awaken their bloodlines, and many missions to far regions in the Demonic Realm are ordered by the current Generals in charge.

Even outings to other worlds are required to build knowledge and experience.

Other new groupings of first and second class Demons are brought to this realm as well, but their training is done separately, as everyone knows that the hierarchy must be followed and those above are worth far more than those below.

–

The Demonic Realm itself is only a Third-Class world, as the energy density is extremely spread thin from its massive size. However, it is such a vast land that it is a perfect base for the Demons, with room to bring resources from other worlds and expand.

Even Third-Class Commoner Natives from this planet have the ability to give offerings to the Five Great Families and join their ranks if they train hard enough and show their loyalty.

However, while possible, Commoners usually don't move up the ranks past the Demonic Knight or Commander Positions. No Commoner has ever been permitted to compress their True Core and be granted a chance to become a Lord.

Only those already within the ranks know that the families like control and would rather raise their underlings from birth as mindless killers with morals and ideals guided by their Lord.

All of this training is done for the purpose of getting ready for labyrinth contracts. It is the final test and vetting process before these recruits are accepted into the Vermillion Family's ranks.

It is known that the other families have their own processes, but it is very secretive, and only the Lords of each family in a place called the Upper Realm ever discuss business between them.

For those in this lower realm, the only necessary work that must be done is becoming strong and following the orders of those who are stronger.

The vetting process usually takes decades, sometimes centuries. This batch of thirty-four Noble Demons has already been trimmed down to less than ten before the final test even started.

Many died fighting Demonic Beasts far above their levels in the outer regions of this realm or on other worlds, while others died in death matches between Demons to settle disputes.

More groupings from incubation worlds are brought back to the Demonic Realm every few years, so losing many fighters is not a problem. Only the strong are meant to survive.

–

I watch more memories flash by, of this Demon being sent off to a foreign world, creating a contract with a dragon, and defending a labyrinth for over 130 years.

It is granted the Body Double skill for accepting the Labyrinth contract, and set out on its journey to rise the ranks from a Greater Demon to an Arch Demon, to an Ascended.

It managed to fend off every challenger that made it to the top floor, even some with levels three times higher than its own.

In solitude on the top floor of the labyrinth, as the beings of the world continued to bring pure mana into this construct, the Demon and the Dragon sparred, talked, and became stronger every day.

It didn't only rank the labyrinth up once, but twice, passing the Noble Bloodline test in order for the Vermillion Family to accept it into their ranks.

–

The Demon accepts red divine energy in exchange for the farmed mana of this world, as a prize for being the first in its class of Noble Demons to return.

Another 110 years pass as the Demon rises from a Knight to a Commander to a General in the Vermillion Family.

It trains in the Demonic Realm, partakes in Demonic Beast extermination on incubation worlds, and even brings back new groups of Demons to begin their training the same way it did.

Everything changes the day Drako Vermillion finally compresses his True Core and is granted permission to speak with the Green Cored Lord.

It gives him a mission to plant an artifact on a small Third-Class world filled with humans extremely far from the source.

Images continue rushing through my mind faster and faster.

I see this Demon's agreement with the Big Three, its 50-year wait inside a special Demonic Cultivation Chamber to fully saturate its True Core, then bonding with two more demon cores in preparation to become a Lord, and finally its last battle against me—the Flame Emperor...

–

No real time at all has passed when I see the room around me again, and all of my links of loyalty reconnect to my vision. Ember floats down from the ceiling, transforming back into his human form.

However, I just experienced over three centuries of memories in crystal clear quality...

Some of the finer details are lost, and others are still sinking in, trapped in my subconscious and needing a nudge. But the passage of time feels quite real.

These were in far greater quality than the little light show of the past Celia once gave me inside her construct.

It's apparent that I'm in a bit of shock as Ember touches down on the floor beside me, but from his tone, it sounds like he just thinks I'm still recovering from the fight.

"Congrats, you just killed a Noble Demon." He grins and takes a step closer.

"Oh yeah, and saved the entire human world."

As he lets out a chuckle and I'm still wide-eyed coming back to reality, a familiar ancient voice rings in my ears while I see silver text fill my vision.

[Round 2 of 2 Shall Commence]

[Round 2 of 2 Title: Soul Stairs]

[Objective: Climb to the Top, and Assimilate with the Throne.]

There's a shift in the air, and the entire silver pillar in the center of the room vibrates.

I see it shifting in color near the top, to a dark green, and my gaze follows it down until it hits the floor with a far lighter green that is almost clear.

The moment it hits the floor, a small archway opening in the silver pillar appears, showing the entrance to the staircase.

Very minimal amounts of green divine threads pour out, then Ember speaks again.

"Well—I guess you haven't saved the world just yet. Come on, let's go beat the final trial. This last round is going to be a lot easier than the ordeal we just went through."

As the wave of fresh green threads begins to come near, I feel the dormant purple ring on my finger ripple with emotions ranging from relief, to excitement, to nostalgia.

I reply, feeling the 160 million pairs of eyes all around the world stare through mine.

"Let's do it. Let's Claim the Throne."