Dungeon of Pride, Laplace

The man who didn't even move an inch or shown any emotions all these months, was suddenly twitching and squirming like that. Although the valkyries didn't know what happened, looking at his facial expression, they could tell that he was in extreme pain.

Seeing Simon like that, the Valkyries felt as if their heart was being pierced by thousands of blades, making them unable to contain themselves.

If it wasn't for Irene stopping them, they wouldn't know what to do anymore.

Looking at them like that, Irene released a deep breath of sigh and explained Simon's current situation. Although others might not be able to understand, but Irene had accurately seen what sort of state Simon was in and what these changes meant.

As expected, after she explained the reason behind their master's current behaviour, the significance it held and what it meant to be disturbed, they instantly calmed down.  That being said, it was not like all their worries had disappeared.

"So miss Irene is saying that master is right now in a mysterious state where his body is slowly being transformed and reformed. If we disturb him carelessly, he might fall into a precarious situation?"

Annette who was the smartest of all the Valkyries, instantly grasped the gravity of the situation while her other sisters were still racking their brains to understand.

"That right, he is shedding his old shell and evolving into a higher race. His entire body is going through a qualitative change and cannot be disturbed right now. Although it might be hard for you all to watch him suffer like that, you must hold yourselves back".

"You should know that this is a very important time for him, if he somehow fails due to outer interference, there is a risk that he might die. That is why, all we can do right now is pray that he can overcome this obstacle".

After Irene finished explaining the situation, the atmosphere inside the room turned gloomy. To dissipate that gloomy atmosphere she added—

"That being said, there is no reason for us to believe that he will fail. I have seen him turn even the most impossible situation around and return back even from the grasp of death numerous times".

"His willpower, tenacity, temperament, everything is on the level of a superhuman. You have all seen how his life force became incredibly strong every time it was on the verge of flickering off. I'm sure that this time too he will overcome it and return back to us. Not only that, he will come back all restored and more powerful than before. Believe in your master".

The Valkyries all nodded their heads, although their hearts was hesitant and filled with worry, they chose to level the room and not disturb their master. All they could do was pray that everything would be alright and believe in him.

Seeing the leave, Irene turned her eyes towards the struggling Simon. There wee many complicated feelings flashing within those crystal blue. She was angry, worried, happy, scared, hopeful, surprised, sad, anxious... a myriad of emotions was going through her.

She wanted to complain, protest and criticise his actions. He was far too reckless this time with him being just an inch away from death. There were numerous occasions in which even she thought he wouldn't make it back alive.

She was worried and frustrated over the feelings she had no control of.

"Hmph, they are so worried about you and yet here you are risking your life every time as if you like gambling with your life". Irene muttered to herself before disappearing too.

Though she did not go far away and silently monitored his situation with her intent.

Time passed by, Simon who continued to struggle like a flame on a storm, could feel the changes occurring around his body. And since he wasn't unconscious, of course he felt the presence of Irene and the valkyries rushing into his room.

Nevertheless, all of his attention was currently preoccupied towards his rank up and enduring this horrendous pain, that he couldn't spare any to them.

Finally, after an excruciatingly long time, the pain running across his whole body slowly receded and his squirming finally stopped.

"Cough… Cough… Kugh!..Hahahahaha"

Simon who was coughing severely, suddenly started laughing. His laughter rang across the room for a while before he finally settled down.

He could clearly feel it, he had succeeded. He had successfully ranked up. That right, he had finally stepped onto the ranks of a Demon Earl. The excitement he was feeling right now was so overwhelming that he couldn't stay still.

As soon as his body recovered some strength, he pounced out of the bed and observed his body.

As Simon clenched and unclenched his fists, he could feel strength brimming from every inch, every corner of his body. As he was now, he felt like he could even break an armour made of whitesilver with only his physical strength alone.

Not only that, his body currently housed a ridiculous amount of mana incomparable to the times when he was a Demon Viscount. It was not a quantitative change, but a complete qualitative change.

If before the mana inside his body was in the state of gas, now it was compressed to the point that it had turned into a liquid like state.

After the rank, not only his mana capacity increased, but it was compressed dozens of times than before. Simon felt like if he cast a magic, even if it was of novice tier, it would be dozens of times more powerful than before.

What's more, his understanding of the mystical energy had also increased after his rank up. Many profundities that eluded him before, naturally came to him at this moment. He was slowly starting to understand the mysteries of mystical energy.

If he felt like he could activate [Mana Armour] in an instant. He was also capable of producing mana wings now.

"Hmm? Did I grow more taller?" noticing his increased line of vision, Simon remarked. Although very little, he had definitely grown a few centimetres taller. Being from the demon noble race, Simon was already very tall standing at around 190cm.

However, after ranking up to Demon Earl, his height would be now around 193cm.

Other than that, Simon also felt his muscles becoming more compact and defined. His bone density increased and the tribal like markings on his body became darker. The crown like horns on his head also became a little bigger and sturdier. Simon felt they wouldn't break as easily as before.

After becoming a Demon Earl, his stats saw a sharp increase but it wasn't only his physical body that had gone through a complete change.

Matching his upgraded hardware, his software had also seen drastic changes. Many of his old skills evolved into superior skills and his MP (Mana Pool) increased to a whole new realm.

That was not all, he was flooded by a stream of notification windows displaying the numerous skills that he had gained.

[Ding… Learned Demon Earl's Intimidation]

[Ding… Learned Resilient Mana Hide]

[Ding… Learned Piercing Demon Roar]

[Ding… Learned Black Flash]

[Ding… Learned Dark Deprivation]

[Ding… Learned Dark Lock]

[Ding… Learned Chilling Touch]

[Ding… Learned Soul Empowerment]

[Ding… Learned Poison Resistance]

[Ding… Learned Blunt Damage Resistance]

[Ding… Learned Cut Resistance]

[Ding… Learned Piercing Resistance]

[Ding… Learned Demonic Eye Resistance].

He had acquired a number of skills at once. Simon wanted to try out all of them and see what they did but his eyes were fixed on his [Status] window.

That was because listed amongst the skills, there was a magic that he finally learned at last. Dark Magic Mastery, Simon had finally acquired it.

All these days he constantly wondered why he was unable to learn Dark Magic even though he was a demon, a being whose alignment lie towards darkness.

Especially after looking at the Bloodthorn Demonic Warhorse showcase the might of dark magic, he became more eager to learn it. It so turned out that, one had to become a Demon Earl before they could learn it.

The Dark magic unlike the other forms of mana was one of the four rare attributes of mystical energy. Although in terms of pure strength and destructiveness, it lost to Infernal and Thunder magic, it had a vast range of applications and effects that the other two magic cannot even compare with.

With his newfound understanding of the mystical energy, Simon understood how powerful the dark magic was. Strictly in terms of influence, it can suppress all the other five basic forms of mana.

Every magic and skill has its counters like how Fire is weak to Water and Earth Magic, Earth weak to Ice, Lightning is weak to Earth and Wind weak to Ice and Lightning.

However, the dark magic is so overbearing that it suppresses all other basic attributes of mana. Of course, the dark magic wasn't all omnipotent; it had its own super effective counter too.

Light magic… just like the Dark magi, it was considered one of the four rare forms of mana and the bane of darkness. The Light Magic wasn't just the weakness of dark magic but it buffed and strengthened the other basic forms of mana.

In that regard, it can be considered the polar opposite of dark energy. Of course, Simon had already guessed that the elements had their own power structure but thanks to the knowledge that he gained after ranking up, he understood the power balance of this world more clearly.

Simon had no doubt gone through a complete qualitative change; however, the thing that saw the most improvement from the [Promote] would be his bloodline. It was far more pure and powerful than before.